Reading The Invasion
by 9PoisonIvy9
Summary: What happens when an Andalite gives Rachel the books of the animorphs future? Will they listen to the books and manybe say lots of lives? I don't own any of the animorphs books or it's Characters
1. Chapter 1

"Someone's happy" said Marco as Rachel literally skipped into the room.

"Uh-huh," said Rachel and sat down, clutching her bag tightly to herself.

"Come on, spill," Cassie grinned.

"Okay but don't freak out," she said wearily.

"Oh, how can we freak out when we morph in to animals almost every single night?" asked Tobias in his human morph.

"Okay, basically, I met another Andalite. Don't interrupt me," she added as Marco started to talk. "He gave me these books. Basically, these books are about us, our future. I don't know how but they are. He told me that we have to read them all, to help us with our battle against the yeerks and to prepare ourselves for the future, if not, change it." They all looked at Jake for an answer.

"I don't know but, well, if the Andalite says we need to read them then I guess we should read them, shouldn't we?" Jake shrugged.

"Um, there is one thing I should point out," sighed Rachel.

What is it? asked Ax wearily.

"These books, they're in our point of views. Once we ave finished reading them, we'll have no secrets in the group. None." she said casting sad eyes around the group. She hated the fact that they were going to have no privacy.

"I suppose that's the risk we're going to have to take," said Marco solemnly.

"Okay, I think we should read our own books out loud just in case we want to leave some things out," Jake concluded and they all agreed.

"All right, this book is yours, Jake," Rachel handed the book to him. He took it.

**ANIMIRPHS**

**The invasion**

"Hey, that's the name I came up with," said Marco in shock.

"I think it's a cool name," said Rachel with a small shrug. "It kinda stuck."

"Are you going to interrupt all the time?" asked Jake, irritated and they both fell silent.

**We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful.**

**The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah, even you.**

Everybody shivered at this. Yeah, they knew it but it was still creepy to hear out loud.

**Sometimes weird things happen to people. Ask Jake. He may tell you about the night he and his friends saw a strange light in the sky and ended upon a mission to save the human race.**

**That night Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias and Marco were given the power to morph into any animal they choose. And now they must use that power to outsmart an evil that is greater than anything the world has ever seen...**

Jake took a deep breath and began to read the book. You may think it's silly to be so nervous about reading a book but your probably have never had all your secrets, all your thoughts, all you privet things get laid out in front of you and other people. Have you?

**Chapter 1**

**My name is Jake. That's my first name, obviously. I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere. And if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, and then... well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to people who resist them is too horrible to think about.**

"Yes, that is horrible," shuddered Cassie and Jake rested his hand on her knee and started to read again.

**I won't even tell you where I live. You'll just have to trust me that it is a real place, a real town. It may even be your town.**

"It most defiantly is real to us," muttered Marco, eyeing the books and wondering if they had the answer to his questions. Where is his mum's body? Is she still alive? Those kind of questions.

**I'm writing this all down so that more people will know the terrible truth. Maybe then, somehow, the human race can survive until the Andalites return and rescue us, as they promised they would. Maybe.**

The future you must have written this and given it to an Andalite to give to you Ax mused.

**My life used to be pretty normal. Normal, that is, until Friday night at the shopping mall.**

"Of course, it had to be Friday night at the shopping mall. I wonder whether or not it was the 13th as well. That would be so cool," said Marco and they laughed.

**I was there with Marco, my best friend. We were playing video games and hanging out at this cool store that sells comic books and stuff. The usual.**

"Boys." Rachel muttered and shook her head. What was so amazing about comic books?

**Marco and I had run out of money for the games, right when he was ahead by a kit of points. Mostly, we're equally good at games. I have Sega at home so I get lots of practice time in, but Marco has this amazing ability to analyze games and figure out all the little tricks. So sometimes he beats me.**

"Ha!" said Marco triumphantly though he was touched when Jake said 'amazing ability'.

**Or maybe I just wasn't concentrating very well.**

"Yeah right," said Marco. They all just ignored him as usual. Even Ax had learned to do that, eventually.

**I'd had kind of a bad day at school. I'd tried out for the basketball team. I didn't make the cut.**

**It was like no big deal, really. Except that Tom- he's my big brother- he was this total legend on the junior basketball team. So everyone expected me to make the team easy. Only I didn't.**

**Like I said, no big thing. But it was on my mind, just the same. Lately, Tom and I hadn't been hanging out as much. Not like we used to. So I figured, you know, if I got his old position on the tam...**

They all knew what this meant. This meant that Tom was already an controller. Cassie put a hand on Jake's knee. She understood how hard it was for Jake to know that Tom was a Controller.

**Well, anyway, we were out of money and getting ready to head home when we ran into Tobias.**

**Tobias was... I mean, I guess he still is kind of a strange guy.**

"Thanks," laughed Tobias.

**He was new at school and he wasn't the toughest kid around, so he got picked on a lot.**

**I actually met Tobias when he had his head in a toilet.**

"Not one of my best entrances," said Tobias airily, as if it meant nothing.

**There were these two big guys holding him down and laughing while they flushed, sending Tobias's straggly blond hair swirling around the bowl.**

"They were what!" Rachel was furious.

"Hey Rach, it's nothing," soothed Tobias and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, a thank you for caring.

"Do you mind?" sniggered Marco and everyone, again, ignored him.

**I told the two creeps to step off, and ever since them, Tobias figured I was his friend.**

Thanks for that Tobias thought privately and Jake nodded slightly to show he heard.

"**What's up?" Tobias asked.**

Why do your male species say 'what's up' as a greeting? asked Ax and the boys merely shrugged.

**I shrugged "Not much. We're heading home."**

"**Out of quarters" Marco commentated. "Certain people keep forgetting that the Sleazer Troll shows up right after you cross the Never Fjard. So certain people keep losing the game- and out quarter." Marco kept jerking his thumb at me, just in case Tobias couldn't figure out who he meant by 'certain people'.**

Both Tobias and Jake rolled their eyes at this though for different reasons.

"**So, like maybe I'll walk home with you guys," Tobias said.**

**I said sure. Why not?**

**We were heading for the exit when I spotted Rachel and Cassie. Rachel is kind of pretty, I guess.**

"How can you say that about that babe?" asked Marco, jerking his head at Rachel and Rachel glared at Marco.

"Okay, she's very pretty, although, since she is my cousin, I don't really thing about her that way," Jake shrugged and Marco rolled his eyes.

**I mean, okay, she's very pretty, although, since she's my cousin, I don't really think about her that way.**

They all laughed at this.

**She has blonde hair and blue eyes and that kind of very clean, very wholesome look.**

"That was just an accident." said Rachel of handily.

"How much do you bet that what she just said will show up in one of her books?" asked Marco.

"MARCO!" they asked said irritated and he started muttering about not being able to take a joke.

**She's one of those people who always know the right clothes to wear and how to look like they just walked out of one of those fashion magazines girls like. She's also very graceful because she takes gymnastics, even though she says she's too tall to ever be really good at it.**

"I am." Rachel muttered and Cassie shook her head at her.

**Cassie is sort of the opposite. For one thing, she's usually wearing jeans and a plain shirt, or something else real casual. She's black and wears her hair very short most of the time. She had it longer for a while, but then she went back to short, which I like. Cassie is quieter than Rachel, more peaceful, like she always understands everything on some different, more mystical level.**

Jake skipped the next bit, finding it to embarrassing to say out loud.

"**You guys going home?" I asked Rachel. "You shouldn't go through the construction site by yourselves. I mean, being girls and all."**

"Hey!" exclaimed Rachel.

**That was a mistake. I should never have suggested to Rachel that she's weak or helpless.**

"No, you should," chuckled Marco and Rachel waked him on the back of his head.

**Rachel may look like Little Miss Teen Model or whatever, but she thinks she's storm form the X-Men.**

"**Are you going to come and protect us, you big, strong m-a-a-a-n?" she said. "You think we're helpless just because..."**

"**I'd appreciate it if they did walk with us," Cassie interrupted. "I know you're not afraid of anything, Rachel, but I guess I am."**

**Rachel couldn't say much about that. That's the way Cassie is - she always has the right word to stop any argument without making anyone feel bad.**

"Speak for yourself." Rachel muttered so no-one else could hear. She felt guilty because she just turned down Jake when he was just trying to be helpful. Sometimes she had such a big mouth.

**So, there we were. The five of us - Marco, Tobias, Rachel, Cassie and me. Five normal mall rats heading home.**

"Yeah, until like five minutes later," joked Marco.

**Sometimes I think about that one, last moment when we were still just normal kids. It's like it was a million years ago, like it was some totally different group of kids of kids. You know what I was afraid of then? I was afraid of admitting to that I hadn't made the team. That was as scary as life got back then.**

"Those were the good old days," Marco mocked sadness and they rolled their eyes at him.

"Yeah, but not every kid gets to hang around with aliens or fly around in the sky," said Tobias.

**Five minutes later, life got a lot scarier.**

**To get home from the mall, we could either go a long way around, which is the safe way, or we could cut through this abandoned construction site and hope there weren't any axe murders hanging around there. My mum and dad have sworn to ground me until I'm twenty if they ever find out I've cut through the construction site.**

"Yeah, like that's scary," grinned Cassie.

**So anyway, we crossed the road and headed into the abandoned construction site. It was a big area, surrounded on two sides by trees, with the highway separating it from the mall area. There's a broad, open field between the construction site and the nearest houses. It's a very isolated place.**

**Originally, it was supposed to be this new shopping center. Now it was just all these half-finished buildings looking like a ghost town. There were huge piles of rusted steel beams; pyramids of giant concrete pipes; little mountains of dirt; deep pits that had filled up with black, muddy water; and a creaking, rusted construction crane that I had climbed once while Marco stayed below and told me I was being an idiot.**

"You were," said Marco in his most parent like voice.

"But it was fun," Jake whined like a three year old. They all laughed.

**It was a totally deserted place, full of shadows and sounds that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. When Marco and I went there during the day, we always found all these beer cans and liquor bottles. Sometimes we found ashes of little campfires back in the hidden nooks and crannies of buildings. So we knew that people came there at night. All that was on my mind as we crept through the site.**

"That's creepy," shuddered Rachel.

"Do my ears deceive me, is Rachel scared?" asked Marco and they laughed at her.

"Am I not allowed to be scared then? Do I have to be fearless all the time? I thought I was human!" Rachel asked, hurt.

"Sorry Rachel, it's just that you're normally fearless," Cassie soothed.

"I've grown up," said Rachel matter-of-factly.

"Uh-huh," said Jake and carried on reading.

**It was Tobias who saw it first. He had been walking along, gazing up at the sky. I guess he was looking at the stars or something. That's the way Tobias is sometimes- off in his own mind.**

Rachel smiled at Tobias and he smiled back, a small, shy smile.

**Suddenly, Tobias stopped. He was pointing. Pointing almost straight up. "Look!" he said.**

"**What?" I didn't want to be distracted because I was pretty sure I'd heard the sound of a chain-saw killer creeping up behind us.**

They laughed at that. There was more to worry about than a chain-saw killer creeping up behind you in the dead of the night. The yeerks had made sure of that.

"**Just look" Tobias said. His voice was strange. Amazed-sounding, but serious at the same time.**

**So I looked up. And there it was. A brilliant, blue-white light that scooted across the sky, going fast, too fast for it to be an airplane, then slower and slower. "What is it?"**

"The Andalite ship" Rachel gasped in surprise, then frowned and looked at Ax, then Cassie. She nodded and turned to look at Ax.

"Ax, the next chapter in this book tells us about your brother's death. Do you want to hear it?" she asked.

Yes, I want to hear it said Ax and she nodded at Jake for him to continue.

**Tobias shook his head. "I don't know."**

**I looked at Tobias and he looked back at me. We both knew what we thought it was, but we didn't say it. Marco and Rachel would have laughed, we figured.**

**But Cassie just blurted it right out. "It's a flying saucer!"**

"That's the end of the chapter," said Jake.

"Me and Ax need to morph back. Maybe we should take a break before we carry on," said Tobias as he morphed. Ax started to morph to. The rest looked away. It was never the nicest thing to watch someone morph.

"Yeah, I think we should," agreed Cassie.


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel clapped her hands together and said "Right, let's carry on." They had just finished lunch at Cassie and had decided that it was best to get the books over and done with so they could figure out a plan to finish the yeerks once and for all. Also, it was going to take a while to finish them so they should get on with them quickly.

"That's almost like you saying 'let's do it'" said Marco wearily and they laughed.

**Chapter 2**

"**A flying saucer?" Marco said. He did laugh.**

"Of course I did, that was one of the most stupid things I had ever heard," said Marco defensively.

"Until you looked up," said Cassie.

"Until I looked up," Marco agreed.

**That is, until he looked up.**

Rachel winked at Marco and he rolled his eyes.

**I could feel my own heart pounding in my chest. I felt weird and excited and afraid, all at once.**

"Of course you are, it's not every day you get to see a flying saucer!" said Rachel reasonable.

"**It's coming this way!" Rachel said.**

"**It's hard to be sure." I could barely whisper, my mouth was so dry.**

"**No, it's coming this way," Rachel said. She had a very definite way of talking. Like she's totally sure of everything she says.**

"That's how I sound, not how I feel," Rachel muttered so that only Tobias heard because he was in his hawk morph.

**Rachel was right. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. And it was slowing down. Now I could see pretty clearly what it looked like.**

"**It's not exactly a flying saucer," I said.**

**First of all, it wasn't all that big. It was about as long as a school bus.**

Of course it isn't said Ax hotly.

"Sorry Ax, it's just that humans have never seen an alien space ship," said Cassie.

**The front end was a pod, shaped almost like an egg. Extending from the back of the pod was a long, narrow shaft. There were two crooked, stubby wind like things, and on the end of each wing was a long tube that glowed bright blue on the back end.**

**The little spaceship looked almost cute. You know, kind of harmless. Except that it had a sort of tail- a mean-looking tail that curved up and forward, coming to a point that looked as sharp as a needle.**

"**That tail thing" I said. "It looks like a weapon."**

It is said Ax.

"**Definitely," Marco agreed.**

**The little ship kept coming nearer, going slower all the time.**

"**It's stopping," Rachel said. She had the same strange, not-quite-real tone in her voice that I had. Like we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Like maybe we didn't want to believe.**

That's just weird said Ax.

"That's the human race." corrected Cassie.

"**I think it sees us," Marco said. "Should we run? Maybe we should run home and get a camera. Do you know how much money we could get for a video of a real UFO?"**

"I'm glad we didn't" said Rachel and Tobias bowed his head in agreement.

"**If we run, they might... I don't know, zap us with phasers on full power," I said. I meant it as a joke.**

What is a phaser? Asked Ax.

"**Phasers are only on Star Trek," Marco said, rolling his eyes the way he does when he thinks I'm being a dweeb. Like he was some kind of expert on alien spaceships. Right.**

Jake read this paragraph as an answer to Ax's question.

**The ship stopped and hovered almost directly over our heads, maybe thirty meters in the air. I could feel the hair on my head standing on end. When I glanced at Rachel it was almost funny. She has this long blonde hair and it was sticking straight out in every direction. Only Cassie looked normal.**

"That's not funny!" Rachel exclaimed. Marco sniggered and Rachel kicked him.

"**What do you think it is?" Marco asked. He sounded a little shakier, not so laid-back now that the thing was so close. To be honest, I was a little scared, too. A little scared, as in so terrified I couldn't move. But at the same time, it was all cool beyond any coolness ever. I mean, it was a spaceship! Right there over my head.**

**Tobias was actually grinning, but that's Tobias for you. He's never scared of weird stuff. It's the normal stuff he can't stand.**

"You seriously creep me out sometimes," said Marco in a matter-of-fact voice.

Uh-huh said Tobias.

"**I think it's going to land," he said, this huge smile on his face. His eyes were bright and excited, and his blond hair was standing up in clumps.**

**The ship began to descend. "It's coming right at us!" I cried.**

**I had to fight an urge to run yammering across the field all the way home, where I could crawl into my bed and pull the covers over my head. **

"Me too," said Cassie.

**But I knew that this was an important, amazing thing. I knew I had to stay and see it all.**

**I guess the others felt the same way, because we all just stood there, as the ship hummed and glowed and slowly settled down in an open space between piles of junk and tumbled walls. I noticed there were black burn marks along the top of the pod section. Some of the skin of the pod had been melted. It touched the ground and instantly the blue lights went off. Rachel's hair fell back down on to her neck.**

"Will you stop thinking about my hair!" said Rachel, annoyed.

Ax looked troubled.

"What is it Ax?" asked Cassie.

The ship was attacked he said and they nodded.

"**It isn't very big, is it?" Rachel whispered.**

"**It's about," I tried to think "about three or four times as big as our minivan."**

"**We should tell someone," Marco said. "I mean, this is kind of major, you know? Spaceships don't just land in the construction site every day. We should call the cops or the army or the president or something. We'd be totally famous. We'd get to be on TV for sure."**

"Is that all you think about, Marco?" asked Rachel.

"Not all the time, sometimes I just think about getting the hell out here," he said and they laughed.

"Yeah and anyway, who would believe a bunch of teenagers anyway," laughed Cassie and they all agreed that what book Marco had just said was an insane idea to try and do.

"**Yeah, you're right" I agreed. "We should all someone." But none of us moved. None of us was just going to walk away from a spaceship.**

"**I wonder if we should try and talk to it," Rachel suggested. She was standing there with her hands on her hips looking at the spaceship like it was a puzzle she had to figure out. "I mean, we should communicate. If that's even possible."**

It is possible said Ax.

**Tobias nodded. He stepped forward and held out his hands. I guess he was showing whoever was in the ship that he wasn't carrying any kind of weapon or anything. "It's safe," he said in a loud, clear voice. "We won't hurt you."**

"I think I would be more worried about it hurting us than anything else," said Marco and they all rolled their eyes at him but, otherwise, they ignored him.

"**Do you think they speak English?" I wondered.**

"**Well, everyone speaks English on Star Trek," Cassie said with a nervous laugh.**

**Tobias tried again. "Please, come out. We won't hurt you."**

**I know.**

Rachel snapped her head towards the book, then towards Ax.

My brother he said in shock. Rachel put her hand on his arm.

**I froze. Ok, I had definitely heard someone say 'I know' only... there hadn't been any sound. I mean, I heard it, but I didn't really hear it.**

Yes, that must have been confusing said Ax understanding.

"It sure was," said Jake.

**Maybe this was all a dream. I looked kind of sideways at Cassie. She looked back at me. Our eyes met. She had heard it, too. I looked at Rachel. She was turning her head back and forth, like she was looking for where that sound- that wasn't a sound- could have come from. I started to get a sick, twisty feeling in my stomach.**

"**Did everyone hear that?" Tobias whispered.**

**We all nodded at once, very slowly.**

"**Can you come out?" Tobias asked in his loud, talking-to-alien voice.**

**Yes. Do not be frightened.**

"**We won't be frightened," said Tobias.**

"Speak for yourself," said Jake, Cassie, Marco and Rachel.

"**Speak for yourself," I muttered. The others giggled nervously.**

Just like what they were doing now, only not nervously.

**A thin arc of light appeared, a doorway, opening slowly in the smooth side of the pod part of the ship. I stood there, totally hypnotized. I just stared, waiting.**

**The opening grew, like a crescent moon at first, then a full, bright circle.**

**And then he appeared.**

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, even Ax in an Andalite sort of way.

**My first reaction was that someone had cloned a person and a deer together. The creature had a head and shoulders and arms that were more or less where they should have been, though the skin was a pale shade of blue. But below that he had fur, a mix of blue and tan, covering a four-legged body that really did look like it belonged to a deer, or maybe a small horse.**

**He ducked his head out of the doorway and I could see that even the fairly normal looking parts of him weren't all that normal. For a start, he had no mouth, just three vertical slits. And then there were his eyes. Two of them were where they should have been, although they were a glittery green colour that was kind of shocking. But the real shock was the other eyes. He had what seemed like horns; only on the top of each horn was an eye. The horns could move, twisting to point the eyes front and back or up and down.**

**I thought the eyes were bad, until I saw the tail. It was like a scorpion's tail, thick and powerful-looking. On the end was a wickedly curved, very sharp-looking horn or stinger. It reminded me of the alien's spaceship. It had seemed kind of cute and harmless, till you noticed the tail. The alien seemed kind of harmless at first glance, too. Then she saw that tail of his and you thought, whoa, this guy could some damage if he wanted.**

"Yeah, I think he could," muttered Marco.

"**Hello" Tobias said. His voice was gentle, like he was talking to a baby. He was grinning.**

I don't see why you had to talk like that said Ax.

I didn't know how to talk, that's the problem Tobias replied.

**I realized I was smiling, too.**

"We all were," said Cassie.

**And at the same moment, I realized that there were tears in my eyes. I can't really describe how it felt, except that it seemed like the alien was someone I'd known forever. Like an old friend I hadn't seen in a long, long time.**

You do get that impression when you meet him Ax said almost proudly. Of course, you could expect Ax to be proud of his brother, whether or not he died in the hands of the yeerks.

**Hello the alien said, in that silent way that you only heard inside your head.**

"**Hi" we all said back.**

**To my surprise, the alien staggered. He fell out of the ship to the ground.**

He's hurt! said Ax sadly and they all nodded, sad.

**Tobias tried to grab him and hold him up, but the alien slipped from his grasp and fell. Back to the dirt.**

"**Look!" Cassie cried. She pointed at a burn that covered half the alien's right side. "He's hurt."**

**Yes. I am dying he said.**

"**Can we help you? We can call an ambulance or something" Marco said.**

"Yeah, like that's going to help," said Rachel and she looked very sad. Tobias rubbed his head against hers. She gave him a small, sad smile.

"**We can bandage that wound," Cassie said. "Jake, give me your shirt. We could tear it up and make bandages." Cassie's parents are both vets and she's totally into animals. Not that this was an animal. Not exactly, anyway.**

**No. I will die. The wound is fatal**

Rachel got up and turned away from the book. She hated it.

"Rachel, we have to read this," said Cassie, getting up and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know, I just can't bear to hear him die again" she said quietly.

Come on Rachel, please said Tobias privately and Rachel sighed. She sat back down with Cassie following her lead.

"**NO!" I cried. "You can't die. You're the first alien ever to come to earth. You can't die." I don't know why I was so upset. I just knew that way down deep inside, it hurt me to think of him dying.**

**I am not the first. There are many, many others. **

"**Other Aliens? Like you?" Tobias demanded.**

**The alien shook his big head slowly, side to side. Not like me.**

**Then he cried out in pain, a silent sound that echoed horrible inside my mind. For a moment, I had actually felt him dying.**

**Not like me he repeated. They are different.**

"**Different. How?" I said.**

**I will remember his answer forever.**

**He said They have come to destroy you.**

There was a silence as those words hung in the air. The only sound was Jake as he turned the page. Even Marco had nothing to say.


	3. Chapter 3

After a long pause, Rachel whispered "Carry on Jake," snapping him back to earth. He nodded and began to read again.

**Chapter 3**

**They have come to destroy you. **

**It was strange, the way we all just knew he was telling the truth. No one said 'no way' or 'you're making it up.' We all just knew. He was dying and he was trying to warn us of something terrible.**

"Defiantly terrible," agreed Marco.

**They are called Yeerks. They are different from us. Different from you as well. **

"**Are you telling me they're already here on earth?" Rachel demanded.**

**Many are here. Hundreds. Maybe more.**

"**Why hasn't anybody noticed them?" Marco said reasonably. "I think someone would have mentioned it at school."**

They're too good for that said Ax.

"Unfortunately for us," sighed Cassie.

**You do not understand. Yeerks are different. They have no body, like yours or mine. They live in the bodies of other species. They are...**

**I guess he couldn't think of a word to explain Yeerks, so he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Suddenly a bright picture popped into snail without its shell, only bigger, the size of a rat, maybe. It wasn't a pretty picture.**

"It never is" said Marco. "Especial in horror movies."

"Yeah, but this isn't just a movie. This is real life, Marco. Weren't you always saying that?" asked Rachel and Marco rolled his eyes.

"**I'm guessing that was a Yeerk," Marco said. "Either that or a very big wad of slimy chewing gum."**

**They are almost powerless without hosts. They-**

**Suddenly we felt that blast of pain, straight from the alien. I could also feel his sadness. He knew his time was almost up.**

**The Yeerks are parasites. They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the host to accept them voluntarily. It is easier that way. Otherwise the host may be able to resist, at least a little.**

"**Are you saying they take over human beings?" Rachel asked. "People. These things take over their bodies?"**

That is nasty thought Tobias. Rachel shuddered in response. No free will at all, it was horrible in just to think about it.

"**Look, this is serious stuff," I said. "You shouldn't be telling us. We're just kids, you know. This is something the government should know about."**

"And miss morphing into cool animals, nice try," chuckled Cassie and Rachel grinned although it was a sad grin.

**We had hoped to stop them the alien continued. Swarms of their Bug fighters were waiting when our Dome ship came out of Z-space. We knew of our mother ship and were ready for the Bug fighters, but the Yeerks surprised us- they had hidden a powerful Blade ship in a crater of your moon. We fought, but... we lost. They have tracked me here. They will be here soon to eliminate all traces of me and my ship.**

"**How can they do that?" Cassie wondered.**

**The alien seemed to smile with his eyes. Their Dracon beams will leave nothing behind but a few molecules of this ship, and... This body he said. I sent a message to my home world. We Andalites fight the Yeerks wherever they go throughout the universe. My people will send help, but it may take a year, even more, and by then the Yeerks will have control of this planet. After that, there is no hope. You must tell people. You must warn you people! **

"One problem, they won't believe us," sighed Jake before continuing.

**Another spasm of pain ripped through him, and we all knew he was nearly gone.**

"**No one is ever going to believe us," Marco said hopelessly. He looked at me and shook his head. "No way."**

**He was right. If these Yeerks were to wipe out the Andalite's ship, how on Earth would we ever convince people? They'd think we were either nuts or on drug.**

Or telling lies Tobias added and they nodded in agreement.

"**I don't care if he thinks he's going to die, we have to try and help him" Rachel said. "We can get him to a hospital. Or maybe Cassie's parents..."**

**There is no time. No time the Andalite said. Then his eyes brightened. Perhaps...**

"**What?"**

**Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly. I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.**

**We all looked at each other. Who was going to be the one o go inside the ship? Somehow we all seemed to agree it would be me. Actually, I didn't agree, but everyone else did.**

"**Go ahead," Tobias said. "I want to stay with him." He knelt beside the Andalite and placed a comforting hand on the alien's narrow shoulder.**

"That's just strange. You seem to have the strongest relationship with him than any of us when we first met him. I wonder if there is a connection," wondered Jake, looking at Tobias.

I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out in one of these books said Tobias offhandedly. He didn't really care. All he wished was that the Andalite had lived.

**I looked at the doorway into the spacecraft. I glanced at Cassie.**

"**Go ahead" she said, sending me a smile. "You're not scared."**

**She was wrong; I was plenty scared. But the way she smiled at me, I wasn't about to weasel out.**

Ahhhhhhhhh cooed Marco and Rachel. Jake and Cassie both blushed at this.

**I walked over to the door of the ship and looked inside. It was surprisingly simple. It looked cosy, almost. Everything was a creamy colour with rounded edges and shapes that tended to be oval. That was one of the things that helped me to spot the box so easily. It was sky blue and square, maybe eight centimeters on each side. It seemed kind of heavy for being so small.**

**I stepped up into the ship. There was no chair, just sort of open space where I guess the Andalite stood on his four hooves while he worked the few controls. There weren't a lot of buttons or anything. I wondered if the Andalite controlled the ship with his thoughts.**

Not all the controls, no answer Ax.

**I quickly reached for the box and started to head back outside. But then something caught my eye. It was small, three-dimensional picture- four Andalites, standing all together, looking like a strange gathering of deer with solemn faces. Two of them looked very small- kids. I realized that this was a picture of the Andalite's family.**

Yes, it was sighed Ax in his head and, like his brother had, it effected everyone.

**It filled me with sadness to think that here he was, dying, millions of kilometres from his family. Dying because he had tried to protect the people of Earth. I felt a small flame of anger against the Yeerks, or Controllers, or whatever they were, for causing this.**

"Don't we all," muttered Rachel and Cassie.

**I went back to the circle of my friends.**

"**Here's the box," I told the Andalite.**

**Thank you.**

"**I, um... was that your family? That picture?"**

**Yes**

"**I'm really sorry" I said. What else could I say?**

You didn't even have to say that. I sure he understood anyway said Ax but Jake shook his head.

"I felt I had to say something," he said and continued reading the book again.

**There is something I may be able to do to help you fight the Yeerks.**

"**What?" Rachel demanded.**

**I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.**

"**Powers?" what was that supposed to mean?**

**It is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have the Andalite explained. A technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe- the power to morph. We have never shared this power. But your need is great.**

I understand now why he gave you the power to morph said Ax.

"**Morph? Morph how?" Rachel asked, her eyes narrowed.**

**To change our bodies the Andalite said. To become any other species. Any animal.**

**Marco laughed derisively. "Being animals?" Marco isn't the most accepting person in the world.**

"No he isn't," scowled Rachel, glaring at Marco.

"Thanks Rachel that means a lot to me," joked Marco and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I think we should skip this part. We already know this stuff," said Cassie and Jake skipped some nearer to the end.

"**What's that?" Rachel asked. She was again looking up towards the stars. Far, far overhead two pinpoints of bright red lights were shooting across the sky.**

**Yeerks. The Andalite said the word in our minds, and we could feel his hatred.**

"The next chapter is the details about his death, are you sure you want to hear this?" asked Rachel for was seemed the hundredth time. Ax nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

"Here we go," said Jake and began to read.

**Chapter 4**

**Yeerks**

**The twin red lights slowed. They turned in a circle and came back towards us.**

**There is no more time. You must decide!**

"**We have to do this," Tobias said. "How else can we fight these controllers?"**

"**This is so insane!" Marco said. "Insane."**

"**I'd like more time, but we don't have that choice," Rachel said. "I'm for it."**

"No surprise there," everyone said and Rachel pocked her tongue out to no one in particular.

"**What do you say, Jake?" Cassie asked me. It was odd. Like suddenly I was the one who had to decide for everyone.**

"Well, you are kinda like out leader," said Cassie.

"Uh-huh, not that I had a choice," muttered Jake and continued before anyone could say anything else.

**I looked up at the Yeerk ships. What had the Andalite called them? Bug fighters? They were circling closer, like dogs sniffing for a scent. I looked down at the Andalite and remembered the picture of his family. Would they even know what had happened to him?**

**I looked at each of the people around me- my usually funny, occasionally annoying best friend, Marco; Rachel, my smart, pretty, confident cousin; and Cassie, who everyone knew liked animals more than she liked most people.**

**Finally, I looked at Tobias. It was weird, the feeling I had at that moment, staring at him. A chill or something.**

"**We have to," Tobias said to me.**

**Slowly I nodded. "Yes. We have no choice."**

**We die. Five hands each press your hand against one side then a sixth hand, different from ours, with too many figures.**

**Don't be afraid the Andalite said.**

**Something like a shock, only pleasurable, seemed to run through me. A tingle that almost made me laugh.**

"Yeah, I felt that too," said Cassie and the others nodded in agreement- Tobias in somewhat of a bird like way.

**Go now the Andalite said. Only remember this- never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is greatest danger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.**

"**Two hours," I repeated.**

**Suddenly some new fear washed through the Andalite's mind. Linked as I was to him, I could feel it as a dread that crawled up my spine. He was staring at the sky with his main eyes. Something else was up there with the Bug fighters.**

**Visser Three. He comes. **

A shudder ran through the small group as Jake read those four words.

"**What?" I was shaking with this new terror. "What's a Visser. Who's a Visser?"**

**Go now. Run. Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks he alone has the power to morph. The same power you now have. Run! **

"**No, we'll stay with you" Rachel said firmly. "Maybe we can help."**

**Again it was as if the alien was smiling at us with his eyes. No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here. **

**We all looked up, craning out necks. Sure enough, the two red lights were sinking towards us. And they had been joined by a third ship, far larger, black as a shadow within a shadow.**

"**But how are we supposed to fight these... these Controllers?" Rachel demanded.**

You're wasting time, you have to get out of there muttered Ax in his head. He, like them all, was engrossed in the story to even know that he wasn't there. It felt like- to them all- as if they had gone back in time and were re-living this scene over all over again.

**You must find a way. Now run!**

**I jerked from the force of his command. "He's right. Run!" I yelled.**

**We ran. All but Tobias, who knelt beside the Andalite and took his hand. The Andalite pressed his other hand against Tobias's head. Tobias rocked back, like he'd been shocked. Then he, too, was up and running, stumbling over the loose junk and potholes of the construction site.**

"What was that all about?" asked Rachel, looking at Tobias.

He shrugged in a bird sort of way.

**A beam of bright red light snapped on. It was a spotlight from one of the Bug fighters. The beam light lit up the fallen Andalite and his ship. A spotlight from the second Bug fighter joined the first, and the Andalite shone brilliant as a star.**

**I hit the dirt hard. I saw my leg lit up within the circle of that spotlight. I yanked it to me and crawled fast, scraping my elbows and knees over sharp stones.**

**The five of us crouched behind a low, crumbled wall, afraid to move, afraid to look, but just as afraid to look away.**

**Slowly the Bug Fighters descended. It was easy to see where they'd got their nickname. They were slightly larger than the Andalite fighter and shaped like legless cockroaches. There were small windows like eyes on the forward-thrust head of the bug. And on either side of the head were two very long, very sharp serrated spears.**

Tobias started to morph human again, he wanted to hear this as human, just as he had all those months ago.

**The Yeerk Bug fighters touched down, one on either side of the Andalite ship.**

"**Ok, you can wake me up now," Marco said in a rattled whisper. "I've had enough of this dream."**

"Typical Marco," whispered Rachel.

**The larger ship began to descend. I don't know what it was about that ship, but as it got closer I started to feel like I couldn't breathe. I tried to suck in a deep lungful of air and couldn't. I wanted to run, but my legs were jelly. I was shaking from a fear so deep it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was the same fear that the Andalite had shown when he'd realized Visser Three was coming.**

**The ship settled towards the ground. It looked like it was going to land directly on a big rusted earthmover parked there. But as the Visser Three's ship descended, the earthmover just sizzled and disappeared.**

**Visser Three's ship was built like some ancient weapon. It reminded me of one of this battle-axes the old-time knights used when they were hacking off the heads of their foes. There was a main oar, like the handle of the axe, with a big, triangular point on the front. That part had to be the bridge. At the rear were two huge, scimitar wings. It was eight or ten times the size of the Bug Fighters.**

**The Blade ship landed. A door opened.**

**Cassie started to scream. I clapped my hand over her mouth.**

**They leaped from the ship, whirling and thrusting and slicing the air, creatures that looked like walking weapons. They stood on two bent-back legs and had two very long arms. On each arm there were curved horn-blades growing out of the wrist and elbow. There were other blades at their bent-back knees, and tow more blades at the end of their tails. They had feet like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.**

**But it was the head that got your attention- a neck like a snake, a mouth that was almost as falcon's beak, and, from the forehead, three daggers like horns raked forward.**

**Hork-Bajir-Controller. **

**I jumped, hearing the Andalite's words in my mind again. They were fainter than before, strained, like someone yelling from far away.**

"**Did you guys...?" I asked.**

**Rachel nodded. "Yeah."**

**The Hork-Bajir are a good people, despite their fearsome looks the Andalite said. But they have been enslaved by the Yeerks. Each of them now carries a Yeerk in his head. They are to be pitied. **

"**Pity. Right," Rachel said grimly. "They're walking killing machines. Look at them!"**

**But our attention was drawn away by a new form that crept and slithered and shimmied out of the Blade ship.**

**Taxxon-Controllers the Andalite said. I knew he was trying to tell us all he could, even to the end. Trying to prepare us for what we were up against.**

**The Taxxons are evil. **

"**Yeah" Marco muttered. "I think I would have guessed that."**

"Can we skip their description; I want to get this part over and done with. We already know what they look like," whimpered Rachel and Jake nodded, turning the page to the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Jake began to read the next chapter. They were all sort of in a trance, seeing that day over again in their minds.

**Chapter 5**

**The Hork-Bajir pointed his gun, or whatever it was, around at the darkness. His snake head swerved left and right, trying to penetrate the gloom.**

**Silence! The Andalite warned us. Hork-Bajirs do not see well in darkness, but their hearing is very good. **

**The Hork-Bajir moved closer still. He was two meters away now, with just the low wall between is. He had to have heard my heart pounding. Maybe he didn't know what the sound was. Maybe he didn't recognize the sounds of five terrified kids whose knees were quivering and teeth were chattering. Kids who were breathing in short, sudden gasps.**

**I was sure I was going to die, right then. I could see in my mind the way those vicious wrist and elbow-blades were going to slice my head from my body.**

**If you've never been really afraid, let me tell you- it does things to you. It takes over your mind and your body. You want to scream. You want to run. You want to wet your trousers. You want to throw yourself down on the ground and cry and beg please, please, please, please don't kill me!**

Rachel turned her head into Tobias's shoulder. He rubbed her shoulder soothingly. Memories flooded her mind and she hated them all, but she couldn't escape them.

**And if you think you're brave, well, wait till you're cowering a few meters away from a monster that can turn you into coleslaw in about three seconds flat.**

**But then the Andalite's voice was in my head again. Courage, my friends. **

**And this... this warm... this... I don't have any words to explain it. It was just this warmth that spread all through me. It was like when you're a little kid and you've had a terrible nightmare and you've woken up screaming. You know how you used to feel better when your mum or dad would turn on the light and come in and sit beside you in bed?**

**That's what it was like.**

**I mean, I was still terrified. The Hork-Bajir was still there, so real and deadly. I could hear him breathing. I could smell him. But at the same time, I could feel the panic coming under control. I could feel the strength flowing from the doomed Andalite. He was letting us borrow some of his courage, even though he must have been afraid himself.**

**The Hork-Bajir moved away. Something new was coming from the Blade ship.**

**Shaking and chattering, I raised high enough to look over the low walk. Every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon was turned towards the ship now.**

"**They're all standing at attention," I whispered.**

"**How can you tell?" Marco whispered back. "Who knows when a jelly-eyed centipede or a walking Salad Shooter from Hell is standing at attention?"**

**Then he appeared.**

**Visser Three The Andalite said.**

Tears were streaming down Rachel's and Cassie's faces. Ax was shaking with rage and Marco had a glassy stare. Jake had a trouble reading the book; his hands were shaking so badly.

**Visser Three was an Andalite.**

**Or at least he was an Andalite-Controller.**

"**What the..." Rachel said. "Isn't that an Andalite?"**

**Only once has a Yeerk been able to take an Andalite body the Andalite said. There is only one Andalite-Controller. That one is Visser Three. **

**Visser Three walked confidently towards the wounded Andalite. The Visser seemed so much like the Andalite it was hard to tell them apart at first. He had the same mouth less face; the same extra stalk-eyes that turned her and there, checking out everything in all directions; and the same wicked tail.**

**But if the Visser looked like any normal Andalite, he felt different. It was like he was wearing a mask, only you just knew that under the fake sweetness of the mask there was something twisted and foul.**

**Well, well Visser Three said. I almost had a heart attack when I realized I was hearing the Visser's thoughts.**

"**Can he hear our thoughts?" Cassie whispered.**

"**If he can we're so dead I don't even want to think about it" Rachel told her.**

**He cannot hear your thoughts The Andalite said. As long as you don't direct them to him. You hear his thoughts because he is broadcasting them for all to hear. This is a great victory for him, so he wants all the hear. **

**What have we here? A meddling Andalite? Visser Three looked more closely at the Andalite's ship. Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honour to meet you. You're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended.**

**The Andalite didn't answer. But I had the feeling maybe it had been more than eight.**

It was said Ax quietly.

**The every last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world. **

**There will be others the Andalite prince said.**

**The Visser took a step closer to the Andalite. Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest. And then I'll be Visser One. **

**What do you want with these Humans? the Andalite asked. You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?**

**Because they are so many, and they are so weak Visser Three sneered. Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us. We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite; you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost.**

**Visser Three stepped right up to the Andalite. I could feel the Andalite's fear, but rather than cower, he fought the pain of his wound and climbed to his feet. He knew he was going to die. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the face.**

**Btu Visser Three was not done taunting his foe. I promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor- when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream.**

"He is the most... Argh!" said Rachel, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"I know," soothed Tobias.

**The Andalite struck!**

**His tail whipped up and over, so fast you couldn't really see it. The Visser twisted his head aside. The Andalite's tail blade missed the Visser's shoulder. Blood- or something like blood- sprayed from the wound.**

"Yes!" they all said, despite themselves and Ax seemed smile proudly.

"**Yes!" I hissed.**

**Aaaaaarrrrrgh! I could hear the Visser's howl of pain in my head.**

**At the same time, a blinding beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite ship. It sliced into the nearest Bug fighter. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered.**

**Even crouching behind the wall, I could feel a wave of blistering heat. The Bug fighter sizzled and disappeared.**

**Fire! Visser Three yelled. Burn his ship!**

**The night exploded in blinding light. Red beams lance from the Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter. The Andalite ship flowed and, with a strange slowness, disintegrated.**

**Then, in the flash and glow of Dracon beams I saw... or thought I saw... humans. A small group of them, maybe three or four, back in the shadows behind the Visser.**

"**There are people over there," I told Marco.**

"**What? Are they prisoners?"**

**Take the Andalite Visser Three ordered his soldiers. Hold him for me.**

**Three big Hork-Bajir grabbed the Andalite and held him down. Their wrist blades were at his throat, but they knew better than to kill him.**

**That was to be Visser Three's personal privilege.**

**Then we saw why a Yeerk as powerful as Visser Three would inhabit the only captures Andalite body. As we watched, Visser Three began to morph.**

**His Andalite head grew large, larger. Much larger. The four horse like legs merged into two and then expanded, each leg becoming as big around as a redwood tree. The delicate Andalite arms sprouted and became tentacles.**

"**This isn't real," Cassie whispered. "This isn't real."**

**In the hideously bloated head, a mouth appeared. It was filled with teeth as long as your arm. The mouth grew wider and wider, becoming a monstrous, terrifying grin.**

**There was nothing left of the Andalite body. A monster had taken its place.**

"**R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g!" The roar of the beast Visser Three had become made the round shake.**

Everyone was shacking now, they were so scared. Even Ax was shaking.

**I covered my ears with my hands.**

"**R-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-g-g-g!"**

**My teeth rattled from the sound. I heard someone whimpering. It was me.**

"That was all of us," correct Cassie very quietly they barely even heard her.

**Visser Three had become a monster that made the Hork-Bajir and the Taxxons look like harmless toys. He reached out with one thick tentacle and grabbed the Andalite by the neck.**

"**No, no, no," I heard Cassie whispering over and over again. "No, no, no."**

"**Don't look," Rachel said to her. She put her arm around Cassie's shoulder and held her close. Then she reached for Tobias and took his hand. I guess you never really know someone till you see them scared. And even scared to death with tears running down her face, Rachel had the strength to spare.**

"I just felt like I needed to comfort everyone. Like I had to stay together so everyone would feel okay," she said and Tobias hugged her close.

**Visser Three lifted the Andalite straight up in the air, tearing him from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir. The Andalite prince struck again and again with his tail. But each strike was like a pinprick against such a creature.**

**Visser Three held the Andalite high in the air.**

**And then Visser Three opened his mouth wide.**

Everyone was crying now and Jake found that he could read the next chapter.

"Here" said Rachel softly and he handed her the book. "One chapter, I promise. And I leave out any embarrassing bits" she smiled kindly at him. He nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

"Here we go," said Rachel and she began to read.

**Chapter 6**

**I don't know what came over me right then. I had been so afraid. So terrified. But it was like something just snapped in my head. I couldn't just hide and watch. I couldn't.**

"**You filthy..." I jumped to my feet. I snatched up a piece of rusted iron pipe from the ground and started to climb over the wall.**

**I guess I just went crazy or something.**

"Yes, you did," said Marco.

**It had to be craziness, because there was no way that I, alone, armed with a piece of pipe, was going to accomplish anything.**

**No!**

**The Andalite's silent cry made me hesitate. I felt Marco's hands grabbing at my shirt and pulling me back. Tobias and Marco held me down. Rachel put her hand over my mouth. I was trying to scream, or curse, or something.**

"**Shut up, you idiot!" Marco hissed. "You're just going to get us all killed."**

Rachel skipped the next bit, just in case it was too embarrassing for Jake. She respected his privacy.

**I shoved Marco and Tobias away angrily. But I was in control of myself again.**

**I peeked over the wall again. The Andalite prince was helpless in the grasp of Visser Three. I saw him held high in the air. I saw Visser Three open his monstrous, gaping jaws.**

**I saw the Andalite fall into that open mouth. The mouth closed. The teeth ripped the Andalite apart. And the Andalite Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul died.**

**At the very end, he cried out. His cry of despair in our heads. His cry will always be in our heads.**

Rachel handed the book back to Jake seen as the worst was over.

**The Hork-Bajir-Controllers began making a huffing sound, like whuh-whuh-whuh. Maybe they were laughing or applauding. The Taxxon-Controllers rushed forward and crowded around Visser Three. They seemed to be stretching up towards him, and then I saw why- a piece of the Andalite fell from the Visser's jaws and the nearest Taxxon greedily gobbled it up.**

**Tobias turned away and covered his face with his hands. Cassie tears streaming from her eyes. So did I.**

**I heard a sound that was strange because it was so normal. It was laughter. Human laughter. The humans... the Human-Controllers- because that's what they were - were laughing, like they were at some kind of show. For a moment it seemed to me that one of those laughing voiced was familiar, like I'd heard it before. But the sound was swallowed up in the huffing of the Hork-Bajir.**

"Tom," they all said.

"He was there to," Rachel added.

**Visser Three morphed out of his monstrous form and slowly regained his Andalite body. Ah I heard him think. Nothing like a good Antarean Bogg morph for... taking a bite out of your enemies. **

**Again the Human-Controllers laughed and the Hork-Bajir-Controllers huffed, and I heard and I heard a familiar human laugh I could not quite place.**

**Marco started throwing up. It was an understandable thing to do. But somehow that sound caught the attention of the nearest Hork-Bajir.**

**The snake head turned. He was perfectly still.**

**We were perfectly still.**

**The Hork-Bajir turned towards us. The nearsighted eyes were aimed directly at our little hiding place.**

**I don't know who panicked first. Maybe it was me. Maybe we'd just had all the fear and horror we could stand. It was like an electric shock went through all of us. We were running before I had a chance to even know what I was doing.**

**I ran. I gasped for air.**

**A cry went up from the Hork-Bajir.**

"**Split up," I yelled. "They can't follow all of us."**

**Marco and Tobias and Cassie took off in three different directions. Rachel was still right beside me. Glancing back, I saw the Hork-Bajir hesitate, unsure of who to chase.**

**Rachel and I are the fastest runners. Tobias is totally out of shape, and Marco and Cassie are too short to be really fast. So I figured if the aliens were going to chase anyone, it ought to be us.**

**I guess Rachel thought the same thing. She slowed down just a little and began yelling and waving her arms. "Come on, come on, you..."**

**And then she said some words I didn't realize Rachel even knew.**

That got everyone laughing, breaking the tension.

"Uh-huh, go Rachel," said Marco and Rachel blushed.

"Well, you can't blame me; I thought it was the best thing to do," she said and Tobias kissed her on the head.

**The two nearest Hork-Bajir snapped around and took off after us. "Ghafrash! Here! Ghafrash fit! Enemy! Get!"**

**Even in my panic it surprised me. They were talking some mix of their own alien language and ours.**

"**Ghafrash fit nahar! I get! I kill!"**

**I an. Suddenly my foot slammed something and I was down. I hit the ground hard. The wind was knocked out of me. I tried to fill my lungs again. Rachel ran on. She didn't know I had fallen.**

"Sorry," said Rachel quietly and Jake shrugged.

"You didn't know."

**Rachel must have realized I wasn't with her any more. She stopped and started to come back towards me.**

"**Don't be an idiot!" I yelled. "Run!"**

**She hesitated just a second. But she knew she couldn't do anything more for me. She ran.**

"That was hard," said Rachel.

"How was it hard to run for your life? Oh, I forgot, your Rachel," sniggered Marco and she rolled her eyes at him.

"You would find it hard to leave your Dad behind if there were Hork-Bajir and other horrible creatures running after you,," she glared at him. It was clear she had hit below the belt because Marco shut right up.

**I saw dark hole ahead and raced towards it. A doorway. Inside it was as black as a grave. It was one of the buildings that had almost been completed. Just bare concrete walls and scattered junk. But knew I had been in here before. Marco and I walked all through it. There were hallways and little side rooms. It was like a maze.**

**Marco! Rachel! Had they got away? And what about Cassie and Tobias.**

**I tried to get my brain to concentrate as I scurried across the first big room. There was a corridor... somewhere. I groped in the dark and found a wall.**

"Damn," said Marco "I hate it when that happens."

They all laughed.

**I heard the sound of claw like feet, huge, tearing, rending claw feet scraping over the bare concrete. A bottle went skittering across the floor.**

**The Hork-Bajir was close! And in the total darkness my superior human vision wasn't much use. But I knew my way around the empty building.**

**At least, I would have known my way around if my brain had been working.**

This caused a couple of chuckles from Marco and Rachel.

**I felt my hand go into emptiness. A doorway. Yes! It led down a hallway. I went through just as the light came on behind me. Someone had brought a flashlight.**

"Okay, that is total gibberish," said Jake, scanning the next line. Rachel looked over his shoulder and nodded.

"Err, just skip," said Cassie and Jake nodded.

"**Hey!"**

**It was a man! He had been lying on the ground, wrapped in a blanket.**

"**Hey, get outta here. This is my place, and I ain't got nothin' for you to steal."**

**I started to warn him, but one of the Hork-Bajir was there.**

**The flashlight landed on the homeless man's face. He blinked like an owl.**

**There was an alcove. Right behind me. I backed through.**

**The homeless guy screamed. I heard the sound of a scuffle.**

**Maybe the guy got away. I hope so.**

"So do I," said Cassie in a worried voice.

"Same," agreed Rachel in the same worried tone.

**But I never found out, because with the Hork-Bajir distracted, I ran.**

**I ran and ran and ran. And as I ran, I really hoped it was all just a dream.**

"So did I; and I still do" said Marco as Jake turned over the page.


	7. Chapter 7

Rachel grabbed her rucksack that she brought with her and opened it. She pulled out some snacks.

"Help yourselves," she said and Marco grabbed something straight away. They all rolled their eyes at him and Jake started to read.

**Chapter 7**

**Somehow I made it home. I don't know how. I have no memories of anything after that last sight of the Hork-Bajir.**

**I wished I had no memories of anything that happened that night. If only I could forget it all...**

Yeah, if only said Tobias.

**I called around the others. Everyone was shaky, but they were all alive. Rachel kept trying to apologize for leaving me.**

"Sorry for that," said Rachel.

"Rachel, that was ages ago. I have forgiven you so you don't need to go on" said Jake as if he was talking to if five year old. Rachel rolled her eyes at him but let it go anyway.

**Marco just kept asking me if I was sure this wasn't a dream.**

**I guess I should have had the worst nightmares of my life that night, but I didn't. The world of nightmares was a joke compared to my new reality.**

Tell me about it said Ax.

**But by the next morning, a Saturday, I half believed it all had been a nightmare. The only thing that seemed real... really real... was the way the Andalite had of smiling with just his eyes.**

**I woke when my mum started pounding on my door.**

"**Jake, are you awake in there?"**

**I was now. "Um, yeah," I groaned. "I'm up."**

"**Your friend Tobias is here."**

"Tobias?" asked several voices. Jake carried on reading to answer their question.

"**It's me," Tobia's voice. "Can I come in?"**

"**Um, sure." I sat up in my bed and blinked several times, trying to get my eyes unglued. The door opened. I heard Tobias say thank you to my mum.**

"Always the polite one," said Rachel, looking at Tobias with a loving smile.

**He was glowing. I swear, he was glowing. Now like he was radioactive or anything, I don't mean that. It's just that his eyes were shining bright, and his face was one big grin, and he seemed to be tingling with energy, bouncing like he couldn't stand still.**

"Uh-oh, that can't be a good," teased Marco and Tobias pecked his head making everyone laugh.

"You might want to watch your mouth Marco. That beak is very sharp!" said Rachel with a big grin.

"Uh-huh," said Marco, wincing as he rubbed his hand.

"**I did it," Tobias said.**

**I tried to get my hair to go in one direction by raking my fingers through it. "What are you talking about?"**

"Morphing!" said Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Ax and Tobias together.

"I know okay, stop trying to bite my head off. I was trying to forget the whole thing," said Jake defensively.

**I was yawning when he answered.**

"**I became Dude."**

**I stopped yawning. My mouth actually snapped shut. Dude is Tobias cat. "Huh?"**

**Tobias glanced around like there might be spies in the room. "I became Dude. Just like the Andalite said."**

**I just stared.**

"**It was so amazing. It didn't hurt or anything. I was petting him, and thinking about the whole thing last night, right? So I thought, why not give it a try?" He was pacing back and forth, snapping his fingers, bursting with enthusiasm. Very unlike Tobias.**

"Very, very unlike Tobias," Rachel and Marco agreed.

"**I didn't even know how to begin. So I just made sure the door to my room was locked. Fortunately, my uncle was still asleep."**

**Tobias has the more screwed-up family I know. He never knew who his father was, and his mum just decided to leave him a few years ago. Since then he'd been shuttled back and forth between his uncle here, and his aunt, who lives on the other coast. His aunt and uncle can't stand each other, and it's like Tobias is some burden they each try to shove off on the other. I get the feeling neither of them cares about Tobias.**

Rachel glared at the wall across from her as if it was its fault.

Hey, I don't care soother Tobias, flying over and sitting on Rachel shoulders, rubbing his head on hers.

"Uh-huh," said Rachel, not really believing him.

"**So there I was, just sitting on my bed, thinking about it. Concentrating. Thinking about becoming Dude. I looked down at my hand." He grinned at me. "What do you think I saw, Jake?"**

**I shook my head slowly. "I don't know."**

"**I had fur, Jake. And I was growing claws. You should have seen the real Dude. He went nuts. I had to put him outside before I could morph all the way. He clawed me up pretty good." Tobias stuck a sliced finger into his mouth.**

"Ouch," said Marco.

**I swallowed hard. Ok, this was definitely crazy now. "Um, Tobias, is it possible you maybe just dreamed all this?"**

"**Not a dream," he said. Now he was serious Tobias again. The grin was gone. "It's all true, Jake. All of it."**

**His eyes met mine. I knew what he was saying. He had tried to pretend it was all a nightmare, too. But it was real. I looked away. I didn't want to start believing it had all been real. I wanted it all safely stored away in my head, just another bad dream. Bad dreams should stay in your head, not come jumping out into real life.**

"I wish this wasn't real," sighed Cassie and Jake rested his hand on her leg. He smiled at her, converting her and she smiled back at him, slightly telling him thanks.

**I just kept concentrating on changing," Tobias said "and in a few minutes, I was... not myself anymore."**

**His eyes bored in on me. "You have no idea what it's like, Jake. Being a cat is so... it's... I can't even describe it. You're so strong, for one thing. Just all this coiled power, and the way you can move" you know what I did? I jumped on to my dresser. A metre straight up in the air, and I landed like a feather! One metre! You know how high that is when you're a cat? It's like a person jumping maybe ten metres straight up."**

"Yeah, I know, it is really cool," said Rachel, remembering when she had became a cat to get into her friend's house to spy on her parents who were controllers and to her comfort her friend as a cat.

**He stopped suddenly and looked at me. "You don't believe me, do you?" he said.**

"**Look, Tobias, it's just that sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between something real and something you're just imagining or dreaming."**

Right, we all had the same dream said Tobias.

"**You think I'm crazy."**

**I considered for a minute. "I don't know, Tobias, let's review the facts. You say you turned into your own pet cat. Turned into an actual cat. Yes, I have to say that sounds crazy to me."**

**Tobias nodded thoughtfully. He gave a little smile. "I understand, Jake. You still don't want it to be true."**

"**What? You mean do I want to believe that you can change yourself into a cat? And all the rest of it? do I want to believe that Earth is being invaded by slimy slugs who live in people's brains and turn them into slaves? Do I want to believe that...that...Duh! No! I don't want to believe any of it."**

"**And how about the Andalite?" he asked in a quiet voice.**

**I hesitated. I don't know why, but I didn't want to just pretend the Andalite away.**

**Tobias put his hand on my arm. "Stand right there,"**

"**What? What are you going to do?"**

"**I'm going to help you decide whether it's real or not."**

"**Tobias..."**

"**Just wait. And don't scream or anything."**

**So I waited.**

"**For a few seconds, nothing happened. Tobias just stood there. I glanced at his face. His eyes...his eyes were different. The pupils weren't completely round any more. I swear there was a reflective greenish light in them. And his mouth was protruding a little, puffing out.**

Jake skipped the next part as they all knew what it was like to morph and it was most defiantly not the prettiest thing to watch. Not at all.

**I wondered if I would just drop dead from the lump that had filled my throat, or form the jackhammer pounding of my heart. Then I wondered if I was still asleep.**

**I was standing there in my bedroom, staring down at a grey-black cat that less than two minutes earlier had been my friend, Tobias.**

And I still am said Tobias, laughing.

"Hurry up Jake, I wanna read the next chapter!" said Rachel. She was literally _bouncing _in her seat. Everyone laughed at her and Jake turned the page and began to read again.

_AN: Sorry I've taken so long to post another story. You know, there is a very good reason why all my friends call my house the mad house! So many disasters happen it's unbelievable. Anyway, I hope this is okay for you._


	8. Chapter 8

"Hurry up Jake, I wanna read the next chapter!" said Rachel. She was literally _bouncing _in her seat. Everyone laughed at her and Jake turned the page and began to read again.

**Chapter 8**

"**I hope I'm asleep," I muttered. "I really do."**

"So did I. It didn't really work out that well," laughed Cassie and everyone joined in.

**You're not asleep**

"**Is that you?" I demanded of the cat.**

"Great, now Jake's talking to cats. We're doomed" chuckled Marco and they all rolled their eyes at him.

**Can you hear me? Tobias sounded surprised. Although "sounded" wasn't quite the right word.**

"**Yes" I said cautiously.**

**I did not know I could send thoughts like this said Tobias. Just like the Andalite. **

"**I guess it only works when you're... morphed."**

**I am talking to a cat! I realized. And I thought Tobias was crazy?**

Looks like I'm not the only one chuckled Tobias.

**I wondered if Tobias had heard my thought. I concentrated. **_**Tobias, can you hear me?**_

**Yeah he said I hear you. **

"**Did you hear my thoughts before that?" I asked.**

**No. I don't think it works that way. You have to think at me for me to hear. Hey, watch this. **

**Suddenly Tobias leaped through the air. He pounced precisely on an autographed baseball that was lying in the corner. Maybe a metre and a half.**

"Yeah, that is so fun!" laughed Rachel, her eyes bright with excitement.

"Of course, you would think that," muttered Marco, rolling his eyes.

Yeah, but it is said Tobias, turning his fierce hawk stare at Marco.

"Man, I really wish you wouldn't do that! It's really creepy," said Marco.

Jake decided now was the best time to carry on reading now.

**That is so excellent! Hey, pull a string for me to chase. **

"**Pull a string? Why?"**

Because it's so fun! said Tobias as if it was obvious.

**Because it's so fun! **

Everyone laughed at that.

**I dug in my desk drawer and found a length of string left over from a birthday girl. I'm not exactly big on keeping my room clean. The string was from a birthday two years ago.**

"It runs in the family," said Rachel, nodding her head.

"I know," grinned Jake.

"**How's this?" I drew the string slowly across the floor, less than a metre from Tobias's nose. He settled back on his haunches and began wiggling his hindquarters. He pounced! He landed on the string, grabbed it in his sharp teeth, rolled over, and began ripping at the string like it was the only thing on Earth that mattered.**

"You're going to lose it," murmured Cassie.

**I tried pulling the string away, but he pounced again.**

**Yes! Got it! **

"**Tobias, what are you doing?"**

**Pull it faster! I see it! I got it! **

"Defiantly lost it," Rachel agreed with Cassie and both girls nodded. Rachel swore she saw a look of sheepishness in the hawk boy's eyes.

"**Tobias, what are you doing?" I shouted. "You're playing with a string!"**

**Suddenly he stopped. His tail twitched. He looked up at me with those cold cat eyes, but I'm sure I saw a look of confusion there.**

I bet you did Tobias said.

**I... I don't know he admitted. It's like...like I'm me, but I'm also Dude. I want to chase strings, and oh man, if only there was a real, live mouse around! I'd really love to track it. To follow it so quietly. To listen to its heartbeat. To hear its scratchy little feet. I'd wait till just the right moment, and then a perfect pounce through the air, claws stretched out... He extended his claws to demonstrate.**

"You're losing it again," said Cassie.

"He's already lost it, he's in a bird's body," muttered Marco and Rachel slapped in on the back of his head. "What?" he asked confused. "What did I do this time?"

"Sometimes you can be so unthoughtful," she said, glaring at Marco who seemed to realize what he had said.

"Oh, sorry," he muttered.

Don't worry about it said Tobias, his feathers slightly ruffled and he started pruning.

"**Tobias, I think we're learning something here," I said. Amazing, how quickly I was becoming used to the idea of talking to a cat.**

"Uh-oh, we're in trouble," teased Marco and Rachel glared at him. She still hadn't forgiven him for insulting Tobias.

Seriously Rachel it's fine said Tobias only to her. She merely rolled her eyes at him.

**What? What are we learning? **

"**I think you aren't just Tobias. You really are a cat. I mean, you have all the same instincts. You want to do the things a cat wants to do."**

**Yes. I can feel it. It's like I'm two different animals melded into one. I can think like a person and like a cat. **

"**You'd better change back," I said.**

**He nodded his cat head up and down. Very weird to see, I can tell you- a cat nodding yes in a thoughtful, normal way.**

**You're right. **

Jake decided to skip the next paragraph. After all, they all knew what it was like to change back from an animal to human again. They all had been there and it really wasn't nice to see it.

**Tobias stood there, looking embarrassed. He quickly pulled his clothes on.**

"Of course, it's nothing that Rachel hasn't seen," teased Marco and Rachel slapped him on the back of the head again.

"**Maybe with some practice we can figure out how to change back into our clothes."**

"**We?"**

**He smiled his gentle smile again. "Don't you get it yet, Jake? If I can do it, so can you."**

**I shook my head. "I don't think so, Tobias."**

**Suddenly he grew angry. He grabbed me by both my shoulders and actually shook me. "Don't you understand, Jake? It's all true. All of it."**

**I pushed him away. I didn't want to hear it.**

"None of us did," murmured Cassie and everyone nodded in agreement.

Why? asked Ax, sounding confused.

"For us it's not really natural. We're used to everything being nice and simple, not really big and complicated," Marco explained.

Oh was all Ax said.

**But he kept after me. "Jake, it's all true. The Andalite gave us these powers for a reason."**

"**Fine," I snapped. "You use them."**

"**I will," he said. "But we'll need you, Jake. You most of all."**

"**Why me?"**

"Yeah, why you? Why can't it be me?" asked Marco, frowning.

"Because you're a total twat, that's why," said Cassie and Rachel together. Marco huffed and pouted.

**He hesitated. "Geez, Jake, don't you understand? I know what I can do and what I can't do. I can't make plans and tell people what to do. I'm not a leader. You are."**

Yeah, you are agreed Ax and Rachel, Cassie and Tobias nodded in agreement. Jake blushed and quickly carried on reading to cover up his embarrassment.

**I laughed rudely. "I'm not the leader of anything."**

**He just looked at me with those deep, troubled eyes- eyes I can now see only in my memory. "Yes, Jake, you are out leader. You are the one who can bring us all together and help us defeat the Controllers. We have the ability to be much more than we are, to have the stealth of a cat, and... And the eyes of eagles, and the sense of smell of a dog, and... And the speed of a horse or a cheetah. We're going to need it all, if we have any hope of holding out against the Controllers."**

"Well said, Tobias, well said," said Marco clapping and everyone else joined in, even Ax. Tobias was so embarrassed that he tucked his head under his wing.

Jake spared Tobias by reading more.

**I wanted it not to be true. I wanted none of it to be true.**

**But I knew that it was.**

**I nodded slowly. It felt like I was agreeing to something awful. Like I was volunteering for a trip to the dentist...**

"The dentist?" Rachel squeaked. "I hate the dentist."

"Then how come your teeth are purl white?" joked Marco.

"Because I used to brush them for so long because I was terrified that if they got a hole in them then I would have to spend hours in the dentist," explained Rachel. It was true.

**...or something much worse. It felt like a million kilograms of weight had just landed on my shoulders.**

You'd be dead said Ax, sounding confused again.

"It's a figure of speech," said Rachel.

**I knew what I had to do next.**

"**Well" I said grimly. "I guess I'd better go find Homer."**

**Homer. That's my dog.**

"Okay, next chapter," said Jake as he turned the page.


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, next chapter," said Jake as he turned the page.

**Chapter 9**

**It isn't painful. Morphing, I mean.**

"I'm glad it isn't!" said Cassie, shuddering and they all nodded in agreement.

**I petted Homer for a while, feeling like a complete and total fool. "This is the stupidest think I have ever done," I told Tobias.**

"No it isn't, the stupidest thing you have ever done is became friends with Marco," corrected Rachel, grinning and set and Cassie laughed.

"Hey!" said Marco, pouting but this only made Cassie and Rachel laugh harder.

"**Look, you have to concentrate. At least, I did. I mean, I formed this mental picture of Dude right? I thought about becoming him."**

"**I see. So I have to, like, meditates on becoming a dog."**

"**That's right. You have to think about it. You have to want it."**

**Normally I would have figured he was nuts. But I had just seen him turn into a cat. So if he was nuts, so was I.**

**I thought about becoming Homer. As I stroked his fur I formed a picture in my mind of me becoming Homer. Homer became weirdly quiet while I did it. Like he was asleep, only his eyes were open.**

"**Just like Dude did," Tobias commented. "I think the process kind of puts the animal in a trance or something."**

"**He's just scared because he thinks his master is a Looney Tune."**

"Who wouldn't?" chuckled Marco and they joined in with his laughter.

**I continued stoking Homer's fur and concentrating, and Homer continued to lie very still. "Okay, now what?" I asked Tobias.**

"**Now we better put Homer outside. He might get slightly freaked out by watching you turn into him."**

**It took Homer about ten seconds to come out of his trance. But then he jumped up, normal, hyperactive Homer again. I put him outside in the yard.**

**Tobias was sitting patiently when I got back, just waiting. "Give it a try," he urged me. "Think about it. Want it."**

Jake skipped the next bit. I mean, they all knew what it was like for them all first time and they didn't really need a replay.

**I was a dog. It was insane. But just the same. I was a dog.**

**I knew I should be scared by all this, only I wasn't. I was ecstatic. I was giddy. I was thrilled. Happiness just washed over me. Happiness filled me up.**

"That's the dog's brain," stated Rachel.

**I breathed in through my ridiculously long nose and wow! Wow! The smells. Oh, man, you have no idea! I breathed in and right away I knew my mum was toasting a waffle in the kitchen. And I knew Tobias had walked through the territory of a big male dog. And I knew things I couldn't even explain in human words. It was like being blind all you life and then suddenly you can see.**

**I ran over to Tobias and sniffed his shoe. I wanted a better idea of who that big male dog was. From the scent of his urine picked up by Tobias's shoe...**

"Ew," said Rachel.

**...I got a sort of picture of him. See, Homer knew him. His owners called him Streak. He was neutered, like me. He spent most of his time in his yard, but he broke out sometimes by digging under his fence. He got a mix of canned and dry food. Purina. No table scraps, unlike me.**

"Wow, you got all that just from sniffing a shoe?" asked Rachel in shock.

"Dog's noses are very sensitive and a tune more sensitive than a humans," said Cassie.

"Yeah, we can see that," muttered Marco.

**All this information made me happy all over again, and I had to wag my tail. I looked up at Tobias. He looked tall and strange and not very colourful. I wasn't all that interested in look at stuff. Smelling things was way better.**

**INTRUDER!**

**There was a noise in the yard. A dog! An unknown dog in MY yard. An INTRUDER!**

**I ran to the window and perched against it and cut loose.**

"**Rrraf! Rrawf, rrawf! Rrawfrrawfrrawfrawf!"**

**I barked as loud as I could. No WAY some unknown dog was just going to walk through MY yard.**

"You've lost control. You need to get back in control," said Cassie worriedly.

"**Jake, get a grip," Tobias said. "That's Homer out there."**

**Homer? What? But I was...**

"Yep, defiantly lost it," teased Marco. Rachel slapped him again.

**I tucked my tail; between my legs. What was going on**

"**Jake, listen to me," Tobias said. "It's just what happened to me when I morphed into a cat. The dog brain is part of your brain now. You have to deal with it."**

**But... there's a dog in MY yard. **

"**That's Homer, Jake. You are Jake. You're just in a body copied from Homer's DNA. That's the real Homer out there. That's the real Homer out there. You put him out there. Focus. You are Jake. Jake."**

**Focus, Jake! I ordered myself. Focus!**

**Slowly I calmed the dog part of my mind.**

**Let go of the smells. Let go of the sound of a dog in your yard.**

**It wasn't easy. That first time. Being a dog is so completely amazing. For one thing, there's nothing halfway about it. You're never sort of happy you're HAPPY! You're never sort of bummed. You're totally, completely bummed. And boy, when you get hungry in dog form, you are nuts on the subject of food.**

**There was a knock on my bedroom door. Yes, my bedroom door. I knew who I was again. I was Jake. Jake with four legs, a tail and a snout, but Jake.**

"No change there then," said Marco and Rachel, Jake and Cassie rolled their eyes at him.

**The knocking seemed incredibly loud to my dog ears.**

"Of course it did, dog have really sensitive hearing as well as really sensitive sense of smell" said Cassie.

"Why does everything you say sound like an essay?" asked Marco. Rachel hit him, AGAIN!

"**Jake, you got Homer in there with you?" My brother Tom's voice. "Mum's on the phone, stop him yapping..."**

Everyone stiffened.

**He opened the door and stepped in. He looked around, confused.**

"**Who are you?" he demanded of Tobias.**

Rachel didn't like how he spoke to Tobias but said nothing on the subject. The result would only getting herself teased by everyone. Well, maybe not Cassie and Ax but still...

"**I'm Tobias. I'm a friend of Jake's,"**

"**Well, where is he?"**

"**Oh... he's around," Tobias said.**

**Tom looked down at me. There was a strange smell about him. My dog brain couldn't quite identify it. it was an unsettling, dangerous smell. And somehow, in my own mind, I heard the echo of a laugh. A very human laugh I had heard the night before as Visser Three swallowed the Andalite whole.**

"The Yeerk," Jake hissed and Cassie rubbed his arm soothingly.

"**Bad dog," Tom said to me. "You keep quiet. Bad dog." And then he left.**

**I was devastated. I wasn't a bad dog. Not really. I was just barking because some other dog was in MY yard. Bad dog? I was a bad dog? No, I wanted to be a good dog. **

Everyone looked at Jake weirdly.

"Now that sounds just really weird," said Jake.

"Yeah, I agree," said Marco, nodding his head.

**I crept into the corner, utterly miserable.**

**Tobias knelt down and patted my head.**

**When he scratched me behind the ears, I felt a little better.**

"You are really whipped, you know that," said Marco and Jake rolled his eyes at him while turning to the next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

"You are really whipped, you know that," said Marco and Jake rolled his eyes at him while turning to the next chapter.

**Chapter 10**

**I called all the others on the phone after I got done morphing back into my normal body. Tobias took off on his own, saying he'd hook up with us later at Cassie's farm. I was on the kitchen phone with Cassie when Tom came in.**

"**Oh, there you are," he said.**

**I covered the mouthpiece. "Yeah. Tobias said you were looking for me before."**

"**I just wanted you to shut your dog up," Tom said. He turned a chair around backward and straddled it.**

**I hesitated. For some reason I didn't want to talk to Cassie with Tom listening in.**

"Love is in the air," sang Marco and Rachel slapped him again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

Jake and Cassie blushed. Rachel decided to save them some embarrassment and said "No, actually, it was because there was a Yeerk inside Tom's head and, even if he didn't know that there was one in there, there would still be the good old human instinct that told him it wasn't a good idea."

Jake and Cassie shot Rachel a grateful look which Rachel returned with a smile.

"**I'll just see you there in a couple hours, Okay?" I told Cassie. I hung up.**

**I looked over at Tom. He's bigger than me, even though I'm not exactly small. His hair is darker, almost black, while mine is brown.**

**I had always trusted him. He wasn't like a lot of guys who pound on their younger brother. We were always kind of close. At least, until last year or so. Somehow we just weren't spending as much time together. Partly it was that he was involved in this club called The Sharing. They did all this stuff together, so he was busy a lot of the time.**

The Sharing repeated Ax, confused yet again.

"It's a club that the Yeerks use to turn people into Controllers" explained Rachel.

**The thing is, Tom should have been the very first person I told about all the stuff that had happened. But as I was sitting there watching him munch toast, I just had this feeling. This feeling that said **_**No, this has to be a secret. Even from Tom.**_

**Instead I told him the other thing I was afraid to tell him.**

"**I, uh... I didn't make the team," I said.**

"**What team?" he asked. He looked puzzled.**

"**What team? The basketball team. Your old team."**

"The yeerk inside of Tom's head mustn't pay attention to what goes on around him," said Marco.

"Marco!" Rachel, Cassie, and Tobias said together.

"What did I do this time?" he asked, shocked.

"You know, you really can be really mean sometimes," said Cassie and she inclined her head at Jake who was staring at the book. Jake found it really hard to deal with the fact that his number one brother was a controller.

Marco seemed to have realized his mistake because he said "Sorry mate."

"It's okay," Jake mumbled and he carried on reading.

"**Oh. Too bad," he said.**

"**Too bad?" I repeated. I could not believe how little he seemed to care.**

"**It's just sports," he said. He munched another big bite of toast.**

"**Just sports?" I couldn't stop repeating what he said. Ton, saying sports were no big deal? No way. He lived for sports. "Yeah, I guess I just don't have your total skill."**

"**He shrugged. "Well, I quit the team anyway. A couple of days ago."**

**I practically fell of my chair.**

"Ah, come on Jake, it's not that surprising!" chuckled Marco, trying to lighten the mood. He earned himself a kick in the shin from Rachel and his eyes watered in pain.

"**You quit? You quit the team? And you didn't even talk to me about it? What's the deal?"**

"**I didn't say anything because I knew you and Dad would make a big thing of it. Look, there are more important things than throwing ball through hoops," he said. He had this mysterious look in his eyes. I figured he meant girls were the more important thing. "Besides," he added "we do much cooler stuff at The Sharing. Maybe you should join up."**

"Sure they do cooler stuff," Rachel muttered.

**I was stunned. Obviously Tom and I were further apart than I had realized.**

**When we were done talking, I headed outside to mow the lawn. I mow the lawn every Saturday. It's my major chore. That, and taking out the trash, which I hate, because we have to do all this recycling.**

**When I was finally done mowing and trimming and raking, I hopped on my bike and took off.**

**I had arranged with everyone to hook up at Cassie's farm.**

"I curious, why do we use Cassie's farm as a secret hide out?" asked Marco, raising his eyebrows.

"Because it's got all the animals we might need," said Rachel. Then she laughed and said "Secret hide out? How old are you; five?"

Marco grinned and got on his knees. Then he waddled over to Rachel and clung to her leg and saying "Mummy, I want some milky."

They all laughed and Rachel pushed him off her leg. "Go to your room," she said in her most parent like voice. Marco pretended to cry and went back to his seat.

**It isn't exactly a normal farm, although it had been in the old days. And they do still have horses and a cow. But now the big red main Barn is the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. Cassie's father runs it. They take in any kind of injured animal except pet-type animals. There are always lots of birds, along with squirrels and deer and skunks and so on. Sometimes they get a bobcat or a fox or even a wolf.**

**Cassie's mum is a vet, too, but she works at The Gardens. That's this huge amusement park that also had a zoo- or I guess they call it a wildlife park. Luckily, Cassie really loves animals. It would have been hard, having her parents, if she didn't really love animals.**

"Yes, that would be really hard. But what's not to like about animals?" asked Cassie.

"I'm not too keen on ostriches because one bit my finger" said Rachel, frowning. Marco laughed.

"Don't tell me your afraid of ostriches !" he laughed and Rachel scowled.

Everyone is afraid of something. Anyway, Rachel wasn't the one who screamed like a little girl when they saw a spider said Tobias cheekily. Marco stopped laughing and glared at Tobias while everyone else started to laugh.

**Me, I have a dog. Tobias has a cat. Cassie has everything from Porcupines to polar bears.**

"Err, Jake, I don't think we have polar bears," chuckled Cassie and Jake rolled his eyes before continuing.

**By the time I got there, Marco, Tobias and Rachel were already waiting outside the barn. Rachel had her face turned up to catch the tanning rays of the sun.**

"Why?" asked Cassie. "I mean, you look beautiful as it is, you don't need a tan."

Rachel shrugged and said "I'm not sure, I can't remember. I think I just wanted the heat or something."

**Cassie wasn't there yet. I figured she was doing chores. She had tons of work to do around there.**

"**Hey, guys," I said.**

**Rachel opened her eyes and immediately thrust a newspaper at me. "Look," she said, pointing to an article.**

**I started to read the article. It wasn't very long. It said that police claimed there had been a disturbance in the construction site the night before. I t said several people had called, claiming they'd seen flying saucers landing there, followed by bright lights.**

"**Cool," I said, looking up. "So the cops know about it now. That's a relief."**

"**Keep reading," Rachel said.**

**The article went on to say that the police had arrived on the scene and found a group of teenagers playing with fireworks. The teenagers had run away. Fireworks were discovered at the scene. The police spokesman had laughed at the reports of flying saucers. "It was just a bunch of kids playing where they shouldn't have been," he said. "There were definitely no flying saucers. People shouldn't be so quick to believe nonsense."**

"**But this is a total lie," I said.**

"**Ding, ding, ding, ding! Correct answer. Johnny, tell out contestant what he's won," Marco said.**

"**Did you see the last part?" Rachel pressed.**

**I read the last sentence. It froze me up good, I can tell you. Police were offering a reward for information on the teenagers.**

"**They're looking for us," Marco said.**

"Cool, wanted by the police," grinned Marco.

"Uh-huh, we're bad," laughed Rachel with a childish glint in her eyes that Tobias loved so much. It made him want to smile.

"**Why would the police be...? I mean, why would they lie?" I wondered aloud. But the answer was pretty obvious.**

"No dur," said Marco, rolling his eyes.

**Marco laughed his sardonic laugh. "Let's see, Captain Brilliant- would it be cause the cops are Controllers?"**

"**Probably not all the cops," Tobias pointed out.**

"**If the police have been infiltrated by the Controllers, who knows how many others have, too?" Rachel asked. "Teachers? People in the government? The newspapers and the TV?"**

"**Maths teachers, for sure," Marco joked.**

"Defiantly," Marco agreed with himself.

**We all looked around nervously, like we expected to find ourselves surrounded by Controllers.**

You probably are said Ax and the humans shuddered.

"Thanks Ax that makes me feel so much better," grumbled Marco.

"**I tried to tell myself it was all a dream," said Rachel.**

"Been there," said Marco, Rachel, Jake, Cassie and Tobias together. They all exchanged a look of surprise and laughed.

"**Been there," I said.**

That made them laugh harder.

**For a while no one said anything. We all felt the same terrible feeling- like we were all alone. Like suddenly we were dealing with stuff that was way, way, way over our heads.**

**Marco spoke first. "Look, why do we have to deal with this? I say we just forget it. We never talk about it. We never morph. We just deal without own lives."**

**Tobias and Rachel both looked at me. They were waiting for me to argue with Marco.**

"**Marco, I halfway agree with you..." I started to say.**

**Suddenly Marco just went ballistic. "We could get killed!" he yelled. "Don't it? You saw what happened to the Andalite. I mean, this is radical stiff, Jake. This is for real. Real! We could all get killed."**

**Tobias was looking at Marco with this sideways look, leek he thought maybe Marco was some kind of cowards. I knew better. Marco had his reasons.**

Marco looked at Tobias.

No, actually I didn't think you were the type of person to outburst like that. It sort of freaked me out Tobias explained.

**Marco shook his head. In a quiet voice he said "Look, I think these Controllers are jerks. But if something happened to me... my dad. He wouldn't be able to handle it."**

Jake shot a quick look at Marco who nodded and Jake read the next bit.

**Two years ago, Marco's mum died. She drowned. They never even found her body. Marco's dad lost it big time. He totally fell apart. He quit his job as an industrial engineer because he couldn't handle being around other people. Now he was working as a night janitor, making barely enough to support Marco. He spent his days sleeping or watching TV with the sound off.**

Marco was staring at his shoe and Rachel noticed some tears in his eyes. She quietly got up and gave Marco a hug. This surprised everyone but Marco was pleased. She got up and sat back down. She frowned at the book.

Jake decided now was a good time to start reading again.

"**You can all think I'm a weasel if you want," Marco said. "I don't care. But if I get killed or something, my dad will flat-out die. He's only hanging in there because of me."**

**I wondered if I should go pat him on the back or something. But if I had, Marco, being Marco, would have just said something sarcastic.**

"**There's Cassie," Rachel said, shielding her eyes and looking off across the open field.**

**A horse, galloping across the green. Its black mane was flying in the warm breeze. I didn't see any rider.**

**The horse slowed, trotting closed, and suddenly I had a strange feeling about the horse.**

"That is really Cassie," laughed Marco. They all knew that he was trying to act all cool again so they didn't comment on it but merely laughed with him.

"**Cassie and I have been here for a while," Rachel said by way of explanation. "She's really good at this. Look how fast she can do it."**

**The horse nickered softly. Then the animal began to melt. The big brown eyes became slightly smaller. The long muzzle became a human mouth.**

**A thing that was part horse and part Cassie smiled at us with big horse teeth and said "Hey kids."**

**Marco suddenly sat down. Very hard, he had never seen a morphing.**

"**It's cool," I said, trying to sound very relaxed. "It's just Cassie."**

"Who's part horse, part human," Rachel added.

**I decided I'd better be a gentleman and look away. After all, when Tobias and I had morphed, we'd kind of morphed right out of our clothes.**

"You really are a gentleman but there really was no need," Cassie smiled warmly at Jake who smiled back gentle.

"But I didn't know that," he said and she nodded.

**But I noticed that as Cassie emerged from the horse she was wearing a skin-tight blue outfit. One of those outfits girls wear to do aerobics.**

"Hmmm," said Rachel, looking thoughtful.

"What?" asked Jake. "What is it?"

"Well, skin-tight clothes are the only things we can morph back into. Well, maybe the clothes we wear have to be like a second skin or something." She shrugged "It was just an idea that popped into my head when you said skin-tight."

"Yeah, but you do have a point," said Cassie thoughtfully.

**I watched and saw something beautiful happen. For just a few seconds, she stayed half-horse and half-human. She reminded me of the Andalite. I realized it was deliberate. Cassie was controlling the way she morphed.**

"**Jeez, Rachel" I said. "You're right. Cassie is good."**

"I'm usually good at being right," grinned Rachel with a wink at Marco who muttered something they couldn't understand.

**Suddenly we heard the sound of tires on gravel.**

**We all spun around. Down the gravel and dirt road came a single black-and-white care.**

"**The cops!" Tobias cried.**

Everyone exchanged a worried glance and Jake quickly turned the page to the next chapter.

[There you go, girl. The stories really heating up. I'm curious - are you using the book as a reference or what?]

Top of Form


	11. Chapter 11

Everyone exchanged a worried glance and Jake quickly turned the page to the next chapter.

**Chapter 11**

"**Cassie. Morph. Now!" I snapped. The police car was coming fast. "We do not want to have to explain a half-hours half-person."**

"**Which way should I morph" Cassie wailed. "Horse or human?" She reared up slightly on her hind legs.**

"Does it matter?" asked Rachel, her hands shaking slightly.

**I knew what was happening. She was fighting the horse's urge to panic.**

"**Human, human, human!" I said. "Everyone, stand in front of her!"**

**The police car squealed to a stop, sending the gravel flying. A single policeman stepped out.**

**I waved at him.**

"Why?" asked Marco in disbelief.

Jake shrugged.

"**Morning" he said. "You kids, un... hiding something?"**

**I wanted to look over my shoulder and see what kind of shape Cassie was in. But that would have been a mistake.**

"Yeah, it would" Rachel agreed.

"**Hiding something?" I repeated.**

"**Step aside, all of you" he ordered.**

**We did, revealing Cassie. Fully human.**

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Even though they already knew what was going to happen, it was still nerve racking.

**The policeman looked puzzled. But then he shrugged.**

**I breathed a huge sigh of relief.**

"**Can we help you, officer?" Rachel asked in her best 'responsible' voice.**

"Which isn't very good" Marco and Rachel joked together. Then they gave each other weird looks which caused everyone else to laugh. Jake shook his head and began to read again.

"**We're making some inquiries" he said, still looking at Cassie like something must be wrong with her. "We're looking for some kids who were shooting off fireworks in the construction site across from the mall last night.**

**Suddenly Marco started coughing.**

"Very obvious" Rachel muttered and Marco rolled his eyes at her.

"**Something the matter with him?" the policeman asked.**

"**Nope" I said. "Nothing wrong with him."**

"There's everything wrong with him" Rachel teased.

"**We want these kids" the policeman said. "We want them real bad. See, it was dangerous what they did. Could have been someone hurt. So we want to find the kids."**

**Suddenly I knew. He was one of them. The policeman was a Controller. I looked at his face. It seemed normal. But inside his head was a creature from another planet- an evil, parasitic slug. Just behind those normal, human-looking eyes, something vile lurked.**

Everyone shuddered at that.

"**I don't know anything about it" I lied.**

**He looked at me real close, and I began to sweat.**

Everyone stiffened.

"**Hey, you know what?" he said. "You look familiar. You look like a young man I know named Tom."**

"**He's my brother" I said. I was trying not to let my voice go weird. But I just couldn't forget the fact that it wasn't really some normal, human cop I was talking to. It was a Yeerk. This wasn't even a human any more. Not really. It was a Human-Controller. The human brain was totally enslaved.**

"Yeah" Rachel agreed, nodding "that is hard."

"**Tom's your bother, eh? Well, he's a good kid. I know him from The Sharing. I'm one of the adult supervisors. Great group, The Sharing. You should come to a meeting."**

"**Yeah, um, Tom invited me already" I said.**

"**We have a lot of fun."**

"Enslaving the human race. Yeah, lots of fun" Marco muttered.

"**Yeah" I repeated.**

"**Well, you call me if you hear anything about these kids in the construction site. I should warn you- they may come up with some wild story to conceal their quilt. But you're too smart to believe a bunch of crazy lies, aren't you?"**

"**He's a regular genius" Marco said.**

Jake rolled his eyes at Marco before carrying on reading.

**Finally the policeman took off.**

"**Okay, rule number one" Rachel announced firmly. "We don't do anything to attract attention. We have to be secret about everything. Especially morphing."**

"I still think we should ditch this stuff" Marco muttered.

"You always say that" Rachel rolled her eyes at him.

**Cassie looked embarrassed. "Yeah, it was stupid of me. It's just, man! It is so amazing, running like that. Out in the open spaces, running and running."**

Cassie grinned, remembering that experience.

"**How did you manage to morph with clothing?" I asked. "When Tobias and I did it... well, let's just say it's a good thing either of you girls was around."**

Cassie and Rachel giggled.

"**It took some practice" Cassie said. "And it can only be tight clothing. I tried it with a coat on. It got shredded. I don't know what we'll do in the winter."**

"That's a good question actually" Jake said. "What are we going to do in the winter?"

"Err, freeze to death?" Marco suggested.

"Why don't we just put warm clothes on and then take them off when we morph?" Rachel suggested, ignoring Marco. No change there.

"How about we think about it" Cassie suggested and they all agreed.

"**That's not going to be a problem" Marco said firmly. "Because there isn't going to be any more morphing,"**

"**Maybe Marco is right" Rachel said.**

"It's the end of the world" Jake and Cassie said together, laughing. Rachel glared at them.

"**This is too big for us. We're just kids. We need to find someone important to tell this to. Someone we can trust."**

"**We can't trust anyone" Tobias said flatly. "Anyone could be a Controller. We tell the wrong person, we are all dead. And the whole world with be doomed."**

"Thanks for the reminder, Tobias" Marco groaned.

Just stating the obvious, Marco Tobias said cheerfully.

"**I don't want to stop morphing" Cassie said. "Do you realize all we could do with this power? We could communicate with animals, maybe. Help save endangered species."**

"You of all people would think about that, Cassie" said Rachel, rolling her eyes at Cassie who merely shrugged.

"**Humans may be the next endangered species, Cassie" Tobias said quietly.**

Well said, Tobias, well said" Marco congratulated him.

"**What do you say, Jake?" Cassie asked.**

"**Me?" I shrugged. "I don't know. Marco's right, we could all get killed. Rachel's right, this is too major for a bunch of kids." I hesitated. I didn't like what I was about to say.**

"Then don't say it" Marco suggested.

"Not gonna happen, Marco" Rachel replied.

"**Bu Tobias is right, too. I mean, the whole world is in danger. And we can't trust anyone."**

"**So, what do we do?" Rachel demanded.**

"**Hey, it's not up to me to decide" I said hotly.**

"Why am I like the leader anyway?" asked Jake.

"Because you seem like the best person out of us to be the leader" Rachel shrugged. "I honestly just look to you when I'm in a crisis. I mean, I would just run head long into a fight. I'm like a bull in a china shop."

Yeah, and I'm a bird Tobias added.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry I asked" Jake muttered the last part but they all heard it anyway.

"**Let's take a vote" Rachel said.**

"**I vote we try to live long enough to get driver's licence" Marco said.**

"**I vote we do what the Andalite said- fight" Tobias said.**

"**You've never even been in a fight" Marco sneered. "You can't handle the punks at school. Suddenly now you want to kick butt on that Visser Three freakazoid."**

Rachel glared at Marco with her full force glare and Marco winced.

Rachel, its okay. Honestly Tobias told her privately. She knew there was no point in arguing with him so she turned her glare to the floor.

**Tobias said nothing, but a blush spread up his neck.**

"**I vote with Tobias" Rachel said, giving Marco a dirty look.**

Just like she was doing now. Marco at least had the decency to look ashamed.

"**I wish we could dump all this on someone else. But we can't."**

"**Let's think it over for a while" Cassie said. "This is a big decision. I mean, it's not like we're deciding whether to wear jeans or a skirt."**

"Skirt defiantly for Rachel" Marco joked.

"Jeans, actually" Rachel snapped. He wasn't obviously not in a position to make jokes about her just yet.

**I was relieved. Thank goodness for Cassie.**

"**Yeah, let's wait for a while" I agreed. "In the meantime, no one say anything to anyone. We just go back to normal life."**

**There was a smirk on Marco's face. He thought he'd won.**

"Na-ah" Rachel said, smirking slightly.

**But I wasn't so sure. Tobias was still blushing. He sent a secret, grateful look to Rachel.**

"Ah" said Cassie and Rachel blushed. Tobias, of course, hadn't changed but there was an air of embarrassment about him.

**Marco and I took off towards my house again, trying to act normal. We talked about the baseball season. We talking about who was going to slaughter who in Dead Zone 5, which is this CD game we were going to play on my computer.**

**By the time we'd reached my house, we'd run out of stuff to talk about.**

**We played Dead Zoe for a while. Neither of us did very well. Face it, games just weren't all that interesting any more. My mind was totally not there.**

**Tom came in after a while. "Hey, you guys" he said. "Cam I give that a try?"**

What? asked Ax, shocked. A Yeerk is interested in playing a human game?

I think he was trying to play the part Tobias replied.

**It had been months since Tom had done anything with me like play a game.**

"**Sure" Marco moved over and gave Tom his control stick.**

**We played for a few minutes, and Tom did pretty well. but then it was like he got bored or something. He gave the control back to Marco and just sat back and watched.**

Of course he did Ax said as if it was obvious.

"**You guys hear about all the stuff going on with the construction site last night?" he asked me.**

**Marco jerked in surprise.**

"Idiot" Rachel muttered. No-one heard her apparently. Well, apart from Ax and Tobias who chose to ignore her comment.

"**What stuff?" I said.**

"**It was in the newspaper" Tom said casually. "They said some kids were there shooting off fireworks. A bunch of morons who live around there decided it was flying saucers or something." He laughed. "Flying saucers, right."**

**Marco and I both laughed, too.**

"**Yeah. And it was just these kids playing with fireworks" Tom said.**

"**Uh-huh" I said. I was trying very hard to concentrate on the game.**

"**You were out at the mall last night, weren't you?" Tom asked me.**

"**Uh-huh."**

"**Did you come back through the construction site?"**

**I shook my head. "No way."**

"Yes way" Marco grinned. Everyone rolled their eyes at him as Jake continued to read.

"**Didn't see any kids hanging around there, maybe?"**

"**Nope."**

"**It's not like I'd get them in trouble" Tom said.**

"Yeah right" Ax, Rachel and Marco said together.

"**I mean, I think it's kind of cool. They're just shooting off fireworks and they get all these people terrified of flying saucers."**

"**Uh-huh."**

"Honestly, Jake" Rachel said "are you going to say anything else."

"Don't worry, Rachel" Cassie grinned. "It's basically all boys say when their playing games so Tom wouldn't noticed the difference."

They both laughed and laughed harder when Marco and Jake scowled at them.

"**Flying saucers" he said. He laughed again. "Only complete dips believe that kind of stuff." He leaned close. "You don't believe in that, do you? Aliens and spaceships and little green men from Mars?"**

**I wanted to say no, none of them had been little or green.**

"Bad idea" Marco said.

**But I just said "No way."**

**Tom nodded and stood up. "Cool. You know, Jake, I feel like we haven't been hanging around much lately."**

"**I guess not" I agreed.**

"**That's too bad" he said. He snapped his fingers like he'd just had an idea. "You know, you should join The Sharing. Marco, too."**

"**Why should we join?" Marco asked.**

**Tom just grinned. "I gotta go" he said. He gave me a playful punch on the shoulder. "Catch you guys later. And don't forget- let me know if you hear anything about those kids at the construction site."**

**He left.**

**Marco looked at me. "Jake. He's one of them."**

"**What?"**

"**Tom. Tom is one of them. Your brother is a Controller."**

"No! That's gonna make him mad!" Rachel said.

"Yeah, you should have broken it to him lightly!" Cassie added.

"How lightly to brake it lightly?" asked Marco in disbelief.

"He is still here, you know" Jake said hotly, shaking his head as he turned the page.

_AN: Sorry I haven't been able to update lately. I've just been so busy with this other story I'm writing, I didn't find to carry on writing this one. Sorry again. But don't worry, I'm writing one story one day, and then this story the next and so on._

_Thank you to my Beta for being so patient with me._


	12. Chapter 12

"No! That's gonna make him mad!" Rachel said.

"Yeah, you should have broken it to him lightly!" Cassie added.

"How lightly to brake it lightly?" asked Marco in disbelief.

"He is still here, you know" Jake said hotly, shaking his head as he turned the page.

**Chapter 12**

**I swung my fist and caught Marco in the side of the head.**

"Told you so" Rachel said as Cassie nodded along with her words. Marco just rolled his eyes at them and nodded at Jake to continue.

**He jumped back and I swung again. But Marco was quick. He dodged my second swing, and I slipped and went down.**

**Marco snatched the bedspread off my bed, threw it over me to tangle up my arms, and sat on me.**

"**Jake, quit acting like a stupid jerk" he said.**

**I was trying to grab him, but he had me pretty good. "Take it back!" I yelled.**

"Not likely" Marco said.

"**Not likely" Marco said.**

Everyone chuckled at that.

"**You think it's just a coincidence he's suddenly all interested in what happened at the construction site?"**

**I knew it looked bad. Even as I struggled to get free and kick Marco's butt, I had this sudden flash about the smell I'd noticed one Tom when I was morphed into a dog. And there was that laugh I'd heard at the site.**

"Listen to you instinct" Cassie urged Jake's book self but she knew there was no point.

**But no. No! This was Tom, my big brother. Tom would never, ever have let those slimy creeps into his head. Never.**

"**I'll let you up if you'll calm down" Marco said. "Look, maybe I'm wrong, Okay?"**

**I stopped struggling and Marco let me up.**

"**You have to admit, Jake, it doesn't look good."**

"**Tom is not one of them, Okay? That's final" I said.**

"**Whatever" Marco said. "Just don't punch me again, 'cause I might have to hit you back."**

**Just then, I heard this fluttering noise at my window. Like someone beating on it very softly. I went to the window, followed by Marco.**

**There was a bird there. Some kind of huge bird like an eagle or a hawk, beating its wings against the window.**

A red-tailed hawk, actually Tobias said.

**Let me in, all right? I can't hover here forever!"**

**Marco's eyes went wide He'd heard it, too.**

"Hey, it's bird boy!" Marco exclaimed.

"No dur" Rachel and Tobias said together.

**I opened the window and the bird flew straight in. It landed on my dresser. It was almost two-thirds of a metre long, mostly brown, with gnarled talons and a sharp, hooked beak.**

"**It's some kind of eagle or something" Marco said.**

**A red0tailed hawk, actually Tobias said.**

Everyone chuckled at that, remembering what Tobias had said only a few minutes earlier.

"**Is that you, Tobias?" Marco demanded. "I thought we weren't going to do any more of this morphing.**

**I never agreed to that.**

"None of us did in the end" Rachel stated.

"**Well, morph back, Tobias" I said. "You know what the Andalite said- never stay in any form for more than two hours."**

**Tobias hesitated. He tilted his hawk's head and peered at me with an incredibly concentrated gaze. At last he hopped over on to my bed.**

"Please skip the morphing part" Rachel said.

"Huh?" asked Jake, looking up from the book. Rachel grimaced.

"I rather not hear about my boyfriend morphing from a red-tailed hawk to human, thank you very much."

"Oh" said Jake and skipped a bit.

Tobias secretly liked the word boyfriend coming out of mouth but forced the feeling back down again.

"**I haven't figured out how to morph clothes yet, like Cassie" he said sheepishly. "Can I borrow some?"**

**I loaned him a pair of trousers and a shirt, but my shoes were all the wrong size.**

"**That was the coolest thing I've ever done in my life" Tobias said. His whole face was glowing. "I was riding the thermals."**

"**What's a thermal?" I asked.**

Who wouldn't know about thermals? Tobias wanted to know.

"Us" said Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco and Ax together.

Oh.

"**That's when there's warm air rising up from the ground. It forms this cushion under your wings. You can just flout up there, More than a kilometre up! You just surf the thermals. You guys have got to do it! It is the best thing ever."**

See, that's a thermal Tobias said and Rachel rolled her eyes at him.

"**Tobias, how on Earth did you do a hawk morph?" I demanded.**

"**There's an injured hawk right there in Cassie's barn" he said. "There's this cool osprey, too, but I decided on the hawk."**

"**How did you fly if the hawk you morphed from was injured?" I wondered.**

Everyone stared at Jake.

"What?" he asked. "So, I don't pay attention in class sometimes. Does it even matter?"

They just shook their heads pityingly at him.

**Marco shook his head pityingly. "Jake, do you ever pay any attention in biology class? DNA has nothing to do with some injury. The DNA wasn't broken, just a wing."**

**I ignored Marco. "You're lucky Cassie's dad didn't catch you" I said to Tobias.**

"**He's so depressed" Tobias commented.**

"**Who's depressed? Cassie's dad?"**

"**No, the hawk. I mean, I think he know they aren't trying to hurt him or anything..."**

"To right we aren't" Cassie agreed.

"**...but he can't stand being cooped up there while his wing heals." Tobias's eyes darkened. "It's terrible when birds have to be locked up in cages. They should be free."**

"But it's for the best" Cassie said, looking up at Tobias.

I know. It sounded like he sighed.

"**Yeah, free the birds" Marco commented sarcastically. "I'll get the bumper stickers printed up."**

"**You wouldn't have that attitude if you'd been up there with me" Tobias said angrily. "It was cool being a cat and all. But a hawk! It's just total, absolute freedom."**

"It's a good job you're a bird and not a cat then" Rachel said, smiling up at Tobias fondly. She could have sworn she saw a flicker of a human smile in his intimidating hawk stare.

**I hadn't ever seen Tobias so happy. I mean, Tobias had a pretty lousy home. Thinking about it, I suddenly had this feeling...**

"You wouldn't!" Rachel said suddenly, glancing up a Tobias with wide eyes.

I didn't get stuck in this hawk body on purpose if that's what you mean Tobias replied.

"Good" was all she said.

**I repeated the warning. "No more than two hours in any morph, right? You keep track of the time, right?"**

"**Tobias smiled. "Yeah. I don't have a watch or anything, but with hawk eyes you can actually see hands of someone's watch when they're a kilometre below you. It's like being Superman. You can fly, plus you have super vision."**

"Which comes in handy" Cassie said.

"**Now he's Superman" Marco muttered.**

Everyone laughed at that.

Superbird, actually Tobias corrected. This made them laugh harder still.

"**I was looking around. I guess I thought I might be able to see something from the air" Tobias said. "I was looking for something that might be a Yeerk pool."**

Everyone shuddered at the name. Too many bad experiences; too many bad memories.

**The phrase sounded vaguely familiar. I remembered Visser Three...**

Again, another shudder.

**...saying something about 'Yeerk Pools'. "What's a Yeerk pool?" I asked Tobias.**

"**It's where the Yeerks live in their natural state. Every three days a Yeerk has o leave his host and go into the Yeerk pool to soak up nutrients. Especially Kondrona rays."**

**Marco and I exchanged a suspicious look. Neither of us knew any of this.**

"Don't even think about" Rachel warned Jake and Marco's bookselves. As she said this, her eyes flashed dangerously.

"**At the end" Tobias explained "when the Andalite told us all to run for it, I stayed behind for a few seconds. I guess maybe I was too scared to even run."**

**I shook my head. I knew better. Tobias just hadn't wanted to leave the Andalite alone. I think maybe the Andalite meant even more to Tobias than to the rest of us.**

Rachel had a thoughtful look on her face.

"What is it, Rach?" asked Jake.

"I was just wondering why the bon between Tobias and the Andalite is stronger than the rest of us" she shrugged.

Nobody knew the answer to that so Jake began to read again.

"**Anyway, he gave me...visions; I guess you'd call them. Pictures. Information. A lot of it, all at once. All jumbled. I haven't even started t sort it all out. But I do know about the Yeerk pools and the Kondrona."**

**Marco held up his hand, silencing Tobias. "Let me check the door" he said. He went to my door and peeked out into the hallway. "All clear" he announced.**

**Tobias gave Marco a questioning look.**

"**Tom" Marco said. "He's one of them."**

"Do you wanna get another hit?" asked Rachel angrily. Marco merely shrugged. This obviously made her angrier because she wacked him round the head with her hand pretty hard.

"Ow!" he moaned, rubbing his head where her hand had struck him.

"Good" she said, turning back to Jake, waiting for him to continue.

"**Either way, we should be careful" Tobias said. He lowered his voice. "The Kondrona is a device that produces Kondrona particles. See, it's like this portable version of the Yeerk's own sun. The Yeerks need Kondrona particles to live, like a human needs vitamins or whatever The Kondrona particles are beamed from wherever the Kondrona is and concentrated in the Yeerk pool. Once every three days, every Yeerk has to leave his host and go into the pool. They soak up the particles and then they renter the host body."**

"God bless Prince Elfangor" Rachel said with a smile.

"**What does this have to do with you flying around playing Superman?" I asked.**

Superbird Tobias corrected again as everyone grinned.

"**Well, it seemed dumb now, but I was thinking maybe I could see the Yeerk pool."**

That was dumb Ax agreed the Yeerks never have their pools out in the open until everyone has become infested.

"We didn't know that back then" Rachel defended Tobias.

I know replied Ax. I was merely stating.

**He made a rueful smile. "Saw a lot of swimming pools and some ponds. You get up there and you realize there are ponds and lakes and streams everywhere. But I didn't see anything special."**

"**And what if you found some Yeerk pool? Then what?" Marco demanded.**

"**Then we blow it up" Tobias said.**

"**Wrong" Marco said. "We decided not to get into this."**

"**No, we decided not to decide yet" I said.**

"**Well, I've decided" Tobias said.**

"**Suddenly the wimp is a hero" Marco sneered.**

Rachel glared at Marco.

**This time Tobias didn't blush. "Maybe I just found something worth fighting for, Marco."**

Rachel heard a double meaning in his words. He meant that he hadn't bothered to fight the bullies because he felt as if his life sucked and that he was something like a low-life. Well, that was so not true.

"**You don't even fight for yourself" Marco said.**

"**That was before" Tobias said softly. "Before the Andalite. Before he died trying to save us. I can't let that go. I can't let him die for nothing. So whatever you guys decide, I'm going to fight."**

"So would I" Rachel agreed.

"Surprise, surprise" Marco muttered as Jake turned the page.


End file.
